The heir of silence
by A-Karana
Summary: Luke and Lorelai live with their kids in Stars Hollow and struggle with every day life, which in their case is not as normal as for other families
1. The house of chaos

**It's amazing really. I thought I could stop writing GG stories for a while because I was out of ideas and energy, but as soon as I finished the last one a new one popped into my head. Some people asked a whole while ago for this, so I hope you'll enjoy it and leave me some reviews, because they are a huge motivation.**

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**Chapter 1:**** The house of chaos**

It was Monday morning eight o'clock and a loud crash echoed through the Danes' home.

"Sara, Laila! What was that?" Lorelai yelled from her bedroom to her two daughters, who should at least be in their room, but with the troublesome five year olds one never knew.

Lorelai sighed when she didn't get an answer, which was never a good sign. She was currently dressed only in her underwear and was searching her black skirt and her blue blouse, but couldn't find them. Nearly all of her clothes were already thrown on the bed and still the things she was looking for couldn't be found. She decided to check on her daughters at first though, before she would get dressed and walked out of the room, down the hallway and to her daughters' bedroom. She found the twins kneeling on the floor and the contents of one of their boxes with Barbies and accessories were spread out all over the room.

"What are you doing?" she asked them and put her hands on her hips, annoyed at the mess her daughters had created.

"I can't find the yellow dress for the skating Barbie", Laila said and didn't stop digging through the mess on the floor.

"I think it's in there", Sara said and went to the other box and wanted to empty it as well, when Lorelai stopped her.

"Tat, tat, tat, forget it missy. First clean up the mess you made and then you can look through the other box. And now put it down", she said and took the box out of her daughter's hands.

"But mommy! We need that dress", Sara insisted and looked just as annoyed as Lorelai.

"Why? You are dressed and that thing is way too small for me anyway", Lorelai joked.

"Oh you are stupid mommy. That dress is not for you, but for the Barbies", Sara said with a duh- tone, while her sister was still searching on the floor.

"Hey, don't call me stupid. And now clean up, we don't have time for that now. Luke will be here any second and he'll freak out when he'll see this mess", Lorelai warned them.

"But we can't leave before I found the yellow dress for Barbie. I want to take her with me today and she needs the dress", Laila spoke up, frustrated from her fruitless search.

"Laila, today is not toy-day at kindergarten and there won't be any toys allowed there anyway so that has time until Thursday", Lorelai replied.

"But I want to take her today", Laila insisted and started to pout.

"Sorry, I didn't make the rules, I just follow them, so stop pouting", Lorelai sighed.

"I don't go to stupid kindergarten without my Barbie", Laila started to cry and Lorelai groaned unnerved.

"Clean up and get ready", she said pointed at the two of them and then to the floor before she left the room and jogged back to her bedroom. She knew that if Luke would get back and she still wasn't dressed she would have a problem as well. She started to look through her clothes and still couldn't find what she was looking for. Swearing and muttering she picked up the phone from her nightstand and called the diner.

"Luke's" Cesar answered the phone.

"Is Luke still there?" she asked without greeting or telling him who was calling. Cesar was used to these kind of calls though and just handed the phone over to his boss.

"Your wife", he just said to Luke and the hurried off to the kitchen, because whenever she was calling and sounded that way, Luke wasn't in a good mood afterwards.

"What?" Luke just asked grumpily and refilled the coffee- maker with coffee.

"Where is my black skirt and my blue blouse?" she asked while she threw out the rest of the clothes.

"You're still not dressed?" he asked unnerved.

"I can't find the outfit I planned on wearing today. So where is it?" she asked back.

"Why the heck should I know where you put your clothes? Knowing you they could be in Will's bookshelf", he replied and closed the coffeemaker.

"Because you brought them to the dry cleaners weeks ago", she said and her voice reached that high pitched tone, she only got when she was stressed or angry.

"Well, then if you didn't pick them up that's where they still are", Luke shrugged.

"You didn't pick them up?" she screeched.

"No, I handed you the number and told you to pick them up in two days, which obviously you didn't", he said and tried to stay calm and not start laughing. They had had the exact discussion a million times already and every time it ended the same way.

"But you didn't me remind me that two days were up", she replied stubbornly, not willing to admit that it had been her fault.

"Get dressed!", he told her sternly and placed the order pad on the counter.

"I have nothing to wear", she yammered and sat down on the bed with a huff.

"Wear the knee-long black dress, the white blouse and your knee high black boots", he said and rolled his eyes at Andrew who was drinking his coffee at the counter and grinned while he listened to Luke.

"Black dress and black boots? Are you planning on getting lucky once the show is over?" she smiled and played with a strand of her hair without realizing it.

"No, I'm planning on coming over now and you better be dressed and ready then", he shot back and hung up, knowing that otherwise this discussion would go on for a while and they didn't have time for that.

"Damn", Lorelai muttered with a smile on her face and got up. In moments like this she wondered why Luke put up with her and her crazy ways. She found the dress he had been talking about quickly and had to throw the rest of the clothes on the floor to get to her white blouse, or the white blouse Luke had been talking about. The make-up she had applied already after her shower and she thought about what to do with her hair for a second. Then she just twirled her hair two times and clipped it up on her head with only one lose strand framing her face.

"Mommy, can I go like that?" William asked and walked into the room. He wore black slacks, and a light blue polo-shirt.

"You look gorgeous honey", Lorelai said and ruffled through his hair.

"Hey, I already combed it", Will complained and smoothed his hair with both hands.

"Oh sorry my baby, mommy is just a bit excited", Lorelai apologized and laughed.

"Why? It is my first day at school and not yours", William said and looked up at her.

"But it's the first time I let my baby go out into the big bad world all alone", she said and sniffed exaggeratedly.

"I am not a baby", he grumbled.

"You're my baby and you'll always be, even when you're eighty and all wrinkled", she said and hugged him to her. "I am so proud of you, honey", she whispered in his ear and kissed his cheek several times.

"Mommy, you get lipstick on my cheek", he protested after a moment and rushed to the mirror to wipe the lipstick away.

"Spoil sport", Lorelai told him and walked to her dresser. On top of it lay her black rimmed glasses and beside it stood her plastic box with her contacts in. She stared at it and contemplated what would go better with her outfit.

"The glasses", she heard Luke say and turned around to found him leaning against the door frame.

"Well, isn't this Benjamin Braddock speaking", she grinned.

"Jeez", Luke rolled his eyes and then stepped into the room and saw the clothes on floor. "You are so gonna clean that up when we get back", he told her with raised eyebrows.

"Daddy, can I go like that?" William spoke up and spared Lorelai the answer.

"Yes, sure", Luke shrugged and Lorelai waved her hands behind William's back to signalize Luke that he needed to show more enthusiasm. "You look very, uhm, schoolboy-ish", he said then.

"Really?" William asked and his face lit up with a smile.

"Yes, really", Luke nodded.

"Yay", William said and hugged Luke's middle.

"Hey, you didn't hug me like that", Lorelai complained and Luke picked up his six year old son.

"You destroyed my hair", William shot back and buried his face in his father's shoulder while Luke chuckled. Lorelai just snorted, then took a spray of her perfume.

"Done", she announced then and smiled proudly. William still clung to his father his legs now slung around Luke's waist. Luke rubbed his back, sensing that his son was nervous because of the big event. Lorelai walked over to them and slung one arm around Luke's shoulder and the other around William. She pressed her cheek to his hair and whispered in his ear "It will be all right, you'll see". They stood like that for a moment, before the twins rushed into the room, both crying.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked them and placed William back on the ground.

"I can't find the dress", Laila sniffed.

"I stepped into the red plastic shoe", Sara cried.

"What is the red plastic shoe doing on the floor?" Luke asked and picked Sara up and carried her to the bed.

"Oh you don't want to know", Lorelai said with a laugh while Luke inspected his daughter's foot.

"Your foot is fine and you don't need any other dress", Luke told his daughters then.

"You better hurry and clean the mess up before daddy sees it", Lorelai said.

"But your clothes are on the floor as well", Sara protested.

"Yes and she will get her punishment and now hurry. You have ten minutes before I come and check the room", Luke said and the twins ran off. "You've got everything?" he asked William and Lorelai then.

"I have my backpack, my pens and something to drink", William nodded.

"And I have my purse, my glasses, the camera and tissues", Lorelai nodded as well.

"Good", Luke said. "Then go and feet your pets and then we'll leave", he told William and the boy marched off.

"Ten minutes huh? You could have made it twenty and we could have played out that Mrs. Robinson fantasy you got here", Lorelai smiled seductively at her husband and slung her arms around his neck and pressed her body up against his.

"With the kids running around?", Luke asked and raised his eyebrows.

"Our bedroom door has a lock, you know", she grinned and kissed him.

"Yes, but it's not sound proof", he replied, but kissed her back.

"Is it the dress, the glasses or the boots?" she asked him, still smiling.

"The combination", Luke grinned and gave her another quick peck before he pulled back.

"I have to keep that in mind", Lorelai said and smoothed out her blouse.

"I will change quickly and then we can leave. We still have to stop at the kindergarten and dump the twins", he said and walked into the bathroom.

"Dump the twins? You have such a way with words", Lorelai laughed.

"They are unbearable in the morning with all their yammering", Luke complained.

"Maybe you should reconsider my coffee theory".

"We will NOT give them coffee. No way", Luke insisted and marched back out of the bathroom, already changed into black slacks and a white shirt. He held out the tie to Lorelai and she tied it for him and straightened the knot. Luke picked up his suit jacket then and slipped in.

"Let's go?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah let's go", he nodded and they walked out of the bedroom together.

"Everybody with the last name "Danes" goes downstairs now and gets into his or her shoes. We're leaving", Lorelai yelled and the kids ran past them and down the stairs. Luke shook his head at her yelling and closed the bedroom door behind him, shaking his head again when he saw the clothes on the floor.

"Let's leave the house of chaos, before Laila remembers the dress", Lorelai told Luke and took his hand in hers, before they walked down the stairs ready to start the big day. William's first day at school.

**TBC**

**You might have noticed that this is another sequel to the "William stories", but I think it can be read without reading the other three before, althought I would be happy if you do read them and leave me a comment. Next chapter should be up soon **


	2. Stars Hollow's royal family

To get this story started I decided to update with this second chapter pretty fast. I hope you will like it. Please keep in mind that I am NO native speaker and I don't have a beta for this story, so forgive me for the faults I am making.

Thank you so much for your reviews!

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**Chapter 2:**** Stars Hollow's royal family**

After stopping at the kindergarten where they dropped off the twins under a lot of protest of the two girls, the Danes made their way to the elementary school in Stars Hollow. They were half an hour early, but knowing her parents Lorelai had insisted to be early. And really the two elder Gilmores were already there when the three arrived and the man and women next to them looked somehow familiar to Lorelai.

"There you are!" Emily greeted them and looked hectic already while Richard and Luke calmly shook hands exchanged a knowing look. Then Richard turned to William.

"Hello Will. I hope you will enjoy your first day at school. I know I did", he smiled at his grandson.

"I'll see", William shrugged and grabbed his father's hand with one and his mother's hand with his other hand.

"I'm sure you will like it. Rory surely did", Emily said.

"Uhm yeah… shall we go in?" Lorelai asked and pointed to the gym where the celebration would be held.

"I already reserved us some perfect seats and we checked the light. Do you know who is responsible for the light in there? It's too dark. If they can't make it brighter Raul here will have to set up some spotlights", Emily said to Lorelai and Luke.

"Spotlights?" Luke asked and raised his eyebrows.

"You hired the camera guy again, right?" Lorelai asked her mother when it dawned on her that she knew the man and his assistant from her own graduation.

"Of course I did", Emily shrugged it of.

"Thank god all the kids were premature, otherwise you would have let him direct the spotlight on my private areas while I was giving birth", Lorelai remarked and the other three adults just groaned about that comment. "Hey hubby, you're supposed to like my wit", she complained and punched Luke's shoulder lightly.

"I'm in awe", he replied sarcastically.

"There you are! Sorry, we thought we were on time, but then I had to drive Davy to school because we slept in and the cake I made wouldn't cool and Jackson forgot about his tomatoes and…" Sookie rambled interrupting their banter when she reached the group after running over from her car.

"Breathe", Lorelai told her and giggled at her friend.

"Patty and Babette will be right over", Sookie said while she tried to breathe calmer.

"Ah Jeez", William muttered and Luke looked down at him.

"I will keep an eye on them", he promised his son with a smile.

"Why what's wrong?" Richard asked, wondering about the cryptic talk.

"They always pinch my cheek. I hate that" William informed him.

"Yes, because you're such a cutie", Lorelai exclaimed and pinched her son's cheeks with both hands.

"Mommy!" William protested and hid behind his father's legs.

"Ah come on honey, don't be shy", she teased him and walked around Luke to get William, but he ran around his father so she wouldn't get him. Luke stopped her by holding her back by her arm.

"Leave the boy alone", he said and she started to pout.

"Mean", she complained.

"Lorelai, I will never understand how a woman your age can still behave like a four year old", Emily lectured her.

"This is my secret and mine alone", Lorelai smiled proudly at her mother and then took Luke's hand.

"Let's go in before the pinchers arrive?" she asked him.

"Good idea", he nodded and took William's hand. They led the way and the rest of the party followed into the gym. Emily showed them the seats she had let Kirk reserve for them.

"The first graders sit over there", Kirk said and pointed to the two first rows of seats.

"Look, Justin and Caiden are already there", Lorelai said and pointed to the two boys with whom William played in one soccer team.

"Will you be here later?" William asked his parents.

"Yes, we will be right here", Luke nodded.

"Ok, see ya", William replied and ran off to his friends, with his backpack still on his back.

"There he goes. My only son, now he's growing up and won't need me anymore", Lorelai said while she looked after William.

"He'll always need you", Luke said and lay one arm around her shoulder.

"Bye bye baby! Have a nice life and maybe you can call your old mommy from time to time", she went on.

"Come on crazy lady, let's sit down and wait for the world come to an end", Luke said and pushed her down on a chair next to her mother.

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"Ladies and gentlemen, parents and grandparents, kids. I am very happy to be here today to welcome you all to the new school year, the first school year in your life. This is a big step for both the kids and the parents. To make the transition a bit easier and to show that school is not only learning but also fun the now second graders prepared a little play with some music for you to welcome you to Stars Hollow Elementary school," Lulu announced and then stepped off the stage when the music set in and some kids ran on the stage and started their song. The rest of the choir entered during the song and mid song Kirk showed up on the stage, dressed exactly like the schoolkids while he sang with them. 

"Ah jeez. Is it just me or does he really look like some pervert amongst those kids?" Luke whispered to Lorelai.

"It is a little disturbing", she grinned.

"A little? A grown up man, dressed like a seven year old, singing in a second grade choir? I call that more than a little disturbing", Luke replied.

"I guess Kirk will never change", Lorelai laughed and shook her head.

"And the fact that his wife is the headmistress of the school our son goes to now gives me a really uneasy feeling", Luke added with a frown.

"In your gut?" Lorelai asked.

"Of course in my gut. Where else?" Luke replied.

"Just checking. Maybe you suddenly fancy Lulu", Lorelai teased him.

"Be quiet and watch Kirk", Luke just replied and pointed to the stage. For a moment they were both quiet.

"It really is disturbing", Lorelai nodded then and Luke gave her hand a squeeze.

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Much to Williams dismay his two friends were in the other class and he did not know anyone in his own class. He stood amongst those kids he did not know and sought out his parents with his eyes. Lorelai gave him an encouraging smile and Sookie held both thumbs up. It was somehow like the little prince of Stars Hollow had his first day at school, because all the charismatic people in town only watched him and no-one else. Babette, Patty, Sookie and Jackson, Taylor, Kirk, Andrew and Gypsy and Kirsten were all there only for him and they weren't even family. All had brought a present for him and while all the other kids had grown up in Stars Hollow as well they weren't know to so many people down in the audience. Lorelai and Luke were THE couple in town and their kids were the prince and princesses of Stars Hollow. The whole town was watching out for them no matter what. For William this was normal, he didn't know it any other way, but some of his new classmates were a bit intimidated that they now had the "star" of Stars Hollow in the class. 

The boys and girls he knew from kindergarten or his soccer team of course knew that he was just a normal little boy with two hardworking parents and two little and one older sister. To them he was just Will, but to his new classmates who did not know him he was THE William. The son of the town's most beautiful mom and most grumpy dad who owned a diner, an Inn and some buildings in town Those two who stood up to Taylor, who had Patty's and Babette's respect and who Kirk admired from afar. He was the brother of the town's most famous former inhabitant Rory, who had married one of the richest men in the country: Logan Huntzberger. For those 20 kids William and his family were everything but normal, they were Stars Hollows royal family.

"Why is William in a class without all of his friends?" Luke whispered to Lorelai when he saw how uncomfortable his son looked.

"I don't know. We will talk to Lulu later", Lorelai replied and waved in William's direction.

The kids left for their classes with their teachers after the play and the parents followed them to the classrooms.

"I wanna be in the other class", William complained when he saw his parents.

"I know. We will talk to Mrs. Gleason later", Lorelai promised him.

"Can I go home now?" he wanted to know.

"No, you will have your first lessons now and we will pick you up at one", Luke said.

"okay", William shrugged little enthusiastically.

"We will leave the presents at the house so you can open them when you get home", Emily tried to cheer him up, but William just shrugged again.

"William, would you come in please", the teacher called from the inside where all the other kids were already sitting at the tables.

"Go", Luke nodded and patted his back when he trotted off. The door closed and the parents were alone outside in the hallway.

"Hey isn't that…" Lorelai started and pointed to a young woman who looked familiar.

"That's Lindsay, yes, Dean's ex-wife", Sookie nodded.

"What is she doing here? Is she a teacher now?" Lorelai asked.

"No, sugah she doesn't have a job, she's a stay at home mom. Her son Douglas is as old as Will. She got pregnant a few weeks after the divorce was final and then got married to Doug's father. They have four kids so far and some say that she is pregnant again", Patty informed her.

"Uh… wow", Lorelai said and looked after the blonde woman who just left the building, pushing a stroller in front of her.

"Lorelai, Luke, we have to go now. We have an appointment at twelve and we still need to freshen up. We are still looking after the kids on Wednesday evening?" Emily asked.

"Yes, we still wanna go on our date", Lorelai nodded with a smile and looked up to Luke.

"Good, then we see each other on Wednesday. Don't forget to give William his presents", Emily remarked and then left.

"I have a little something as well for him. If he wants to let him spend all of it on toys", Richard said, handed Lorelai an envelope and then left as well.

"I guess some things never change", she laughed.

"Luke you have our presents in the car already?" Kristen, their neighbour and friend, asked him.

"Yes, all this crap was blocking the way so I brought it to the car during this disturbing performance", he grumbled.

"Okay, then I will leave as well, work is calling. See you later", Kristen laughed and then left the school with the other's saying goodbye and leaving as well.

"Let's go home and unload", Luke sighed and with one last glance towards the classroom door they left as well.

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When all the presents were in the house and Luke closed the door behind him he found Lorelai standing in the living-room staring off into space. 

"Hey", he said softly and touched her shoulder. She turned around at his touch and looked at him and he could see tears in her eyes, which hadn't spilled over yet.

"Our kids are growing up and we're getting old", she said and slung her arms around his middle and lay her head on his shoulder. Luke leaned his cheek against her hair and chuckled slightly.

"Getting old? I would say we haven't been that fresh anymore for some time now", he joked and pressed his lips to her hair.

"Hey, I am only 43. You're the old one here", she protested but held on to him.

"I can live with that", Luke nodded. "You're okay?" he asked her.

"Yes I am fine. Just a bit sentimental", she shrugged and raised her head and looked at him. "Hey babe…" she said and trailed off.

"What?" he asked, knowing that she wanted something.

"You know the twins and Will won't be back until one and it's only half past ten now. I have the day off and you have the day off", she said, undid his tie and played with the buttons of his dress shirt and then opened the first one.

"Yes", Luke nodded and his voice was husky already, because he knew where this was going.

"And we have this great Jacuzzi upstairs which we haven't used in a while… I guess that Jacuzzi is feeling very neglected", she said and unbuttoned the shirt slowly.

"So what are you proposing?" he asked her and unbuttoned the blouse she wore over her black dress.

"I propose that we go up there and show it some affection", she grinned and gave him a lingering kiss and slipped his shirt off. Luke kissed her deeply in reply and they walked upstairs together.

After undressing each other, letting the warm water in and teasing each other with hands and lips they both slipped into their Jacuzzi.

"I have to congratulate myself every time I am in here for insisting on buying that", Lorelai sighed and closed her eyes in contentment when she leaned back against Luke.

"Yes, you can be really proud of yourself", nodded, scooped up some foam and teased Lorelai's breasts with it.

"Mmmh", she moaned in appreciation and started to let her fingernails dance softly against his inner thigh.

"I think you're so hot for an old woman", Luke whispered teasingly in her ear and then nibbled on her neck.

"You're pretty hot yourself, grandpa", she laughed and tilted her head to the side to give him better access.

"This was a great idea", Lorelai said, her eyes closed while Luke's hands roamed over her body.

"Yes it was", he nodded and let his right hand wander down between her legs, while the left hand teased her nipples.

"Oh", she moaned at his touch and her hips bucked up into his hand, before he kissed her passionately and they became both lost in the sensation.

**TBC**


	3. Skipping and pouting

Huh, maybe those fast updates are too fast when I look at the reviews.. or it was a fault starting this story altogether (or publishing it, because I would have written it either way). Anyway, here is the next chapter, I hope you like it!

Thanks to Laura for her help and for paying attention to the details. I hope this way this thing works ;)

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**Chapter 3: Skipping and pouting**

"Was this my punishment for the clothes on the floor or playing out your Mrs. Robinson fantasy?" Lorelai asked breathlessly. She was sitting in Luke's lap, her legs still slung around his hips and her arms around his neck. They were still sitting in the tub, enjoying the closeness after their current encounter.

"For the clothes. For the other thing you need to wear your glasses and the boots", Luke said and trailed some kisses down her neck to her throat, before he kissed her on the mouth again. Lorelai participated eagerly and played with his hair while they kissed.

"We should get out, the water is getting cold", Luke said when they broke the kiss. He stroked Lorelai's damp hair behind her ears before she slid off of him with a sigh.

"Just give me a minute to clean up", she winked at him and he nodded, stood up and got out of their Jacuzzi. He took a washcloth and handed it to her before he grabbed a towel for himself.

"I think I should shave again, this time clean and not just to make the stubble shorter like this morning", Luke said when he slung the towel around his hips and looked into the mirror while he dripped some water on the floor.

"But I love your stubble! Please leave it", Lorelai protested and stood up. Luke grabbed a large towel, helped her out of the tub and wrapped the towel around her.

"Yeah I know. But if I shave now the stubble will be back for our date on Wednesday and I won't look like this guy from this boring TV show which re-runs you made me watch the other day," Luke replied and started to towel himself dry.

"Boring TV show? Ah, you mean Everwood", Lorelai nodded after a second and grabbed the brush from the shelf and combed with it through her hair.

"Yep, that's the one", Luke agreed, grabbed Lorelai by the hips and placed her a bit more to the right so he could reach the shelf beside the sink and get the deodorant.

"I think I need to shave as well", Lorelai said after looking down to her own legs.

"Yeah, but use your own razor this time", Luke said and placed the deodorant back on the shelf after using it.

"Where's the difference if I use your razor or mine? It's just my legs", she replied and placed one leg on the rim of the sink and sprayed some of the foam on it.

"The difference is that while I clean the razor after shaving you are not. And then when I want to shave I have your stubbles on my cheek and forgive me, but I find that disgusting", Luke explained the problem.

"You think that's disgusting? My hair on your cheek is disgusting? I have to say I am surprised, because we swapped nearly every body fluid and here you are complaining about my hair on your cheek", Lorelai argued back while she carefully let the razor glide over her legs.

"It's not the same. If I would cut my toenails on your side of the bed and leave them there you wouldn't be happy either".

"Yes, because that would _really_ be disgusting", Lorelai said and shuddered in horror.

"Why can't you just use your own razor?" Luke asked unnerved.

"Because after a while it's not working properly anymore", she shrugged and went to work on her other leg.

"Might have to do something with the fact that it's clogged because you never clean it", Luke replied and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you", Lorelai muttered. Luke just shook his head slightly and finished shaving before he slung one arm around her waist, gave her a squeeze and kissed her forehead.

"Mmh, we should have some free time like this more often", Lorelai sighed. She turned on the water in the sink and cleaned the razor extra carefully, so that Luke would see it before she placed it back on the shelf. Then she grabbed another washcloth, held it under the water and wiped the remaining foam off her legs.

"Have you made any plans for Wednesday already?" Luke asked her and dropped his towel.

"You're the guy, that's is your job", Lorelai grinned and swatted his naked butt playfully.

"Just wanted to make sure that you didn't invite some people again", Luke told her with a knowing look and opened the door to their bedroom so he could get his clothes.

"One time! I asked Sookie and Jackson to come with us one time!", Lorelai yelled from the bathroom into the bedroom so he could still hear her.

"Yes, I know. But not only did you forget to tell me, but you also forgot to tell them to leave their kids at home", Luke replied and came back into the bathroom with his clothes in his hands and some underwear for Lorelai.

"God that was an awful date", Lorelai laughed. "Oh sexy, didn't know you were into female lingerie", she grinned when she saw her panties and her bra in his hands.

"Why did I know this was coming? I should have left them in your dresser so you would have to get your stuff yourself", Luke grumbled. Lorelai dropped her towel and then snaked her arms around his neck and pressed her naked body against his.

"Thank you honey", she whispered and kissed him. She teased his tongue with hers and made sure that her whole body was pressed against his.

"You're welcome", he replied when she stepped back and smiled at her.

"So you will think of something if I promise that it will be just the two of us?", she asked and sang the last part with a high pitched voice.

"I have no problem when others are coming along, but when I go out to have a date I am not fond of unnerved ten year olds and crying toddlers", Luke explained and slipped on his boxer shorts.

"Me either. When the kids were sick and I stayed at home I thought I could never speak normally again and had to coo for the rest of my life", Lorelai smiled.

"Yes, and those were our kids and not some others. If we have a family dinner that's something different, but when we go out once a month I would like to be able to have some normal conversation", he went on and pulled his T-shirt over his head.

"Good that we are on the same page. I like being "mommy" all day long but once in a while it's nice just to be a woman who is going out with her husband", Lorelai said and grabbed the body lotion and rubbed it in her skin.

"Yeah, I think we really need that time. Sometimes more and sometimes less", Luke agreed.

"I am glad we came up with that idea back then", Lorelai said and referred to the time when their marriage hadn't been that rosy nearly two years ago.

"Me too", Luke agreed and pecked her on the lips. "You smell good", he added.

"You, too. As much as I like the burger smell when you come home from the diner I really like this better", Lorelai replied. "What time is it?" she asked him then. Luke leaned out the bathroom door and glanced at the clock they had in the bedroom.

"Nearly twelve. We have to hurry up because I want to check on the diner before we pick up the kids", he informed her and zipped up his jeans.

"Why don't you go there now and I will pick you up? That would give me some more time to get ready and you would have the time to prepare me a nice big cup of coffee", she grinned, knowing that she would never get her hair and make-up done in time.

"That might be better for my nerves and give you the time to put your clothes back into the dresser", Luke agreed and took his cap from the towel hook, where he had put it earlier that morning, and put it on his head.

"Oh and tell Cesar that the reservation for the weekend is ok, in case I won't see him later", Lorelai said when he walked out of the bathroom. Luke stopped and turned around.

"He made reservations at the Inn?" he asked his wife surprised.

"Yes, he said something about his wedding anniversary and that he wanted to do something nice for his wife", Lorelai explained.

"Huh, didn't know that", Luke said and scratched the back of his head. "You'll be at the diner by a quarter to one?" he asked then.

"Yup, maybe a bit earlier, so I can drink my coffee and enjoy it, without two yammering five year old twin's terrors", Lorelai said.

"They are really annoying at the moment", Luke groaned.

"I think it's the age, Will wasn't easy back then either".

"Maybe. I have to go. See you later", Luke said and gave her another peck and small wave before he left for the diner.

* * *

Ten to one Lorelai burst into the diner and by the energetic way the bell rang Luke knew it was her without looking up from the recipes he was looking through.

"Sorry I am late, but my hair was refusing to cooperate. Stupid curls", Lorelai said and plopped down on a chair at the counter.

"I like your curls", Luke replied and looked up.

"I know. Where's my coffee?" Lorelai changed the topic and Luke handed her a cup with an unnerved groan.

"Did you clean up the mess you made?" he asked her.

"Mess? Me? I never make a mess", Lorelai smiled innocently and wanted to take a sip of her coffee, when Luke took the cup out of her hands.

"Your clothes", he said and raised both eyebrows.

"Yes, I put them in the closet", she nodded and wanted to take the cup, but Luke held it out of reach.

"Did you fold them or hang them up?" he questioned further.

"They might lye a little crumbled on the floor of the closet", she admitted, but smiled innocently.

"Which means you broke the deal we had. You're on laundry duty for the next month", Luke smirked and handed her the cup again.

"Mean. But don't complain if I don't iron your boxer-shorts", she complained and greedily drank her coffee before he could take it away again.

"I never asked you to do that. I said you should iron my dress-shirts, because you just hung them into my closet as wrinkled as they were", Luke said and put the recipes aside and wiped his hands at the towel. "Can we go? Otherwise we will be late on Will's first day at school and he looked freaked out enough as it is", he asked then.

"Sure, our girls will sure be hungry by now", Lorelai replied and slipped off the chair and grabbed her purse. When Luke came around the counter he slipped one arm around her waist and Lorelai handed him the car keys.

"When aren't they hungry? Cesar I'm leaving. I'll stop by again in the evening", Luke said into the direction of the kitchen and Cesar poked his head out.

"Sure boss. Bye boss", he said and then disappeared again.

"I don't know how often I told him not to call me boss", Luke grumbled when they walked out of the diner.

"What should he call you? Master and Commander?", Lorelai teased.

"Luke", he clarified.

"Master Luke?"

"Just Luke"

"Mister Luke?", Lorelai went on.

"Get into the car", he said with an eye roll and unlocked the car, which was parked directly in front of the diner. Lorelai just laughed and got in while he opened the door on the driver's side and just wanted to get in when Taylor hurried out of his soda shop.

"Luke, Lorelai!", he called and Luke groaned in annoyance.

"What Taylor?" he said in an unfriendly tone.

"No need for such an attitude Luke. I just wanted to tell you, that I am still not approving that you always park your car in front of my ice-cream shop", he explained in a haughty tone.

"For god's sake Taylor! How often did we have this conversation in the last five years?"

"And still you are parking your car nearly every day in front of my shop", Taylor replied.

"Taylor, who is the owner of the shop?" Luke asked him.

"Me, of course", Taylor shrugged.

"Think again"

"Well, you own the building, but I own the shop", Taylor remained stubborn.

"Aahh, now we're getting it right. As the owner of the building I think I can park my car as often in front of it as I want to! I could even park the car on top of the building or in the building and you couldn't say a damn thing about it! And now leave me the hell alone, because you are making us late for picking up the kids", Luke ranted, got into the car and slammed the door shut before he started the engine. "And you: Don't laugh", he barked at Lorelai, but she just laughed harder.

"I love your fights with Taylor", Lorelai laughed and Luke snorted. "Aw, baby don't be mad. I just love your rants", she cooed then and patted his thigh with her left hand.

"You have strange passions", he muttered and drove into the parking spot in front of the kindergarten.

"Ah come on. Somewhere in your heart you know you like Taylor and you like your fights. You can blow off some steam", Lorelai said and got out of the car. Together they walked to the door and Luke rang the bell. He pushed the door open when it clicked and they walked inside the side building of Stars Hollow Elementary school.

"Hello Lorelai, hi Luke", the teacher greeted them and it made Sara and Laila look up.

"Mommy, daddy look! I drawed our house", Sara yelled and waved at them to come over.

"You drew our house, Sara and I think yelling is not allowed in here", Luke said and walked over to his daughter while Laila had abandoned the doll with which she had played and hugged her mother's middle.

"Aw man, not here not at home, then where am I allowed to yell?" Sara complained.

"Preferably nowhere. And you forgot the diner and the Inn in you taboo-zone listing", Luke said and looked at the painting.

"Are you tired, baby?", Lorelai asked Laila meanwhile and fastened the clip around her ponytail.

"Mmh", she just shrugged. Lorelai looked down at her and felt her forehead. She wasn't unusually warm, but something was off. She crouched down in front of her and looked into her daughter's blue eyes.

"What's wrong honey?" she asked her and placed her hands on her daughter's hips to pull her a bit closer.

"My head hurts", the girl admitted and her eyes filled with tears. Lorelai pulled her towards her and hugged her tightly. Laila laid her head on her mother's shoulder and sniffed into her shirt.

"Did you hit it somewhere?" Lorelai asked her and picked her up. "God, you're heavy", she groaned. Laila only shook her head. "Let's hope you won't get ill then", Lorelai said and rubbed her daughter's back soothingly. Luke came over with Sara beside him and looked questioningly at Lorelai. "She has a headache", Lorelai explained.

"Hand her over I take her", Luke said and Lorelai handed him their daughter, which the girl accepted without protest.

"Sara honey, where are your bags?" Lorelai turned to her youngest daughter.

"Over there", Sara said and pointed in the direction of the breakfast tables.

"Okay, then let's get your stuff and hurry up, because we will be late otherwise to pick up Will", Lorelai explained and her daughter marched off and came back with her bag. "Where is Laila's bag?" Lorelai asked her.

"There, I told you mommy", Sara replied and pointed to the tables again.

"You didn't bring her bag as well? You were just over there", Lorelai asked.

"I am not her maid", Sara protested.

"Sara, get her bag", Lorelai ordered.

"But mommy...", Sara protested again but then went silent when she saw her mother's look. She muttered something but marched over and got her sister's bag as well. When she came back she thrust the bag into her mother's hand, still muttering.

"Watch it young lady", Luke said, which made Sara turned around, stomp her foot and start crying out of pure anger. She knew that she had no chance against her parents and her stubborn nature made it hard for her to accept that. Lorelai saw her daughter's shoulders shake with anger and she smiled slightly, because for her it was like seeing herself as a kid. She turned her stubborn daughter around by her shoulders, picked her up and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Thank you for bringing your sisters bag", she whispered in her ear and nodded in Luke's direction, signalizing him that they could leave.

"See you Helen", Luke said to the teacher and they left the building.

"Stubborn flea", Lorelai whispered teasingly in her daughter's ear while she carried her over to the normal school building.

"Not", Sara protested.

"Heavy elephant", Lorelai teased her further.

"Not".

"Angry monkey".

"Not".

"Mommy's stubborn baby", Lorelai smiled.

"Not", Sara protested again.

"I love you my baby", Lorelai said and kissed her daughter's cheek again.

"Love you, too mommy", Sara said and smiled, before she finally slung her arms around her mother's neck and hugged her as hard as she could, her anger forgotten.

"You're going to choke mommy, if you keep that up", Lorelai laughed and Luke watched them with a smile. For him it was amazing to watch how Lorelai seemed to always understand Sara's moods, while for him she was sometimes hard to get. But still she was a daddy's-girl, even more so since the accident years ago.

"Which room number had Will's class-room again?" Luke asked his wife.

"Uhm.. twenty- five I think. But it could be fifty two.. or eighteen?" Lorelai pondered and Luke shook his head.

"Helpless", he said and walked down the hallway, because he remembered at least where the room was located.

"Hey, you don't remember the number either", Lorelai shot back and placed Sara on the ground because she became too heavy.

"I wasn't told the number ten times by Lulu", Luke grinned and took Sara's hand in his when she skipped over to him, in a better mood now.

"Mommy", they heard William's voice a second later and the boy ran out of the open classroom and slammed into his mother.

"See I find my son without stupid room numbers", she grinned at Luke and hugged William. "How was your first day at school?" she asked William excitedly.

"I don't know anyone in my class and the lessons are boring. We had to colour letters and every baby can do that", William complained and walked back into the classroom with his mother and Luke followed them with the twins.

"Why don't you get your schoolbag and I talk to Lulu meanwhile?" she asked him.

"I have to call her Mrs. Gleason now", William snorted and then went over to his table in the last row of the class. Lulu was currently hanging up some pictures in the classroom and Lorelai went over to her.

"Daddy look! I can read that!" she heard Sara say and smiled that her daughter was so excited.

"Hey Lulu", she greeted the headmistress and Kirk's wife.

"Hi Lorelai! Good to see you! Look this is Will's picture", Lulu greeted her enthusiastically and showed her the letter A William had coloured, with little care as it looked.

"Really nice", Lorelai replied and then came to the main point, "Look, I don't know if you realize it and maybe it's a mistake, but William is in a class without all of his friends. He knows no-one in this class, although we were asked to name some of his friends when we came here to sign him in. I mean, we assumed that the friends list was to keep the kids together in one class and not to separate them and now we are a bit… confused", Lorelai admitted.

"I know this might sound strange to you, but William is not like all the other kids", Lulu said. "He was on top of all the kids' friends list. Everybody who knows him, no matter how vaguely, wanted to go into one class with him".

"And that's a bad thing?" Lorelai asked confused.

"No, absolutely not. At least not, when it is only because of his personality and not because he's a star", Lulu replied.

"A star? I am sorry Lulu, but that's just not true. Will _is_like all the other kids", Lorelai argued back.

"To you he is. But not to those kids. He's the town's little prince and every kid knows that. Now to make him normal and accepted in the class and get him off his stardom before it goes to his head we decided to put him in a class with the kids he does not know so that they have a chance to get to know him as well and decide by his personality if they like him or not and not by his stardom", Lulu explained the problem.

"So you are punishing Will because the town cares about him more than about other kids?" Lorelai started to get angry.

"I don't mean to punish him. It might be hard at first, but in the long run it will be good for him".

"Well, you know you could have talked with Luke and me before you make decisions about our son and what is good for him and what is not. For me it is not okay that he should stay in this class without his friends. We will see how this goes, but if William will be unhappy with this situation than I am by no means not willing to accept it", Lorelai said angrily.

"Let's just give it try. I am sure William will make some friends within a few days and then everything will calm down", Lulu tried to calm Lorelai.

"I hope so. Bye Lulu", Lorelai replied and turned around. William came back with his backpack.

"Mommy, let's go home", he said and pulled her out of the classroom by her hand, looking relieved that he was allowed to go.

"Sara, come on, let's go", Luke said to his daughter.

"Lulu can I take this?" the girl asked the teacher and held up a sheet with some letters and animals to colour.

"Sure", Lulu nodded and Sara skipped over to her father with the sheet of paper in her hand.

"Daddy, can I go to school with Will tomorrow?" she asked him and skipped beside him happily while her sister was asleep on her father's arm.

"No, you will go to kindergarten tomorrow, like you did today", Luke replied and chuckled when she went from skipping to muttering and pouting within seconds.

**TBC**

**please review **


	4. Presents

Chapter 4: Presents

When Lorelai unlocked the front-door William immediately stormed inside and ran through the hall into the living-room.

"Where are my presents?" he asked loudly and looked around.

"Locked away if you don't come back immediately and take off your dirty shoes", Luke grumbled and struggled to get off his own shoes while he was carrying the sleeping Laila.

"Daddy, where are my presents? Grandma said I could unwrap them when we get back", William complained, threw his backpack on the floor and kicked his shoes off.

"William!" Luke groaned annoyed when he saw the chaos his son had caused in a few seconds, but Lorelai stopped him.

"Honey, why don't you go upstairs and "dump" Laila, as you put it this morning and leave Will alone. There are presents waiting, so there is no time for orderliness", she said and patted his back and then pushed him out of the hall and into the living-room so he would go upstairs.

"Wait!" William called and Luke stopped on the stairs and turned around.

"What?" he asked his son.

"Where are my presents?" William asked impatiently.

"Behind the couch", Luke gave in and proceeded up the stairs.

"Yay", William yelled in victory and jumped on the couch, climbed behind it and threw his presents on the couch.

"Mommy, are there also presents for me?" Sara asked when she saw what her brother was doing.

"No, only for Will", Lorelai said as she helped William to climb back over the couch.

"Why not for me?" Sara pouted and plopped down on the couch.

"Because it was William's first day at school and not yours", she explained, but Sara still wasn't okay with that.

"But I want presents, too", she was still pouting.

"You will get presents from Santa and then from the Easter bunny and then finally for your birthday and when you have your first school day. That's a huge amount of presents if you ask me", Lorelai soothed her daughter and pulled her over in her lap.

"But I want presents now", Sara stubbornly pouted while William ripped the paper off the first present.

"Wow, a new mp3 player", he exclaimed and started to do a happy dance in the living-room which made Lorelai laugh.

"What is he doing?" Luke, who had just come back downstairs, asked.

"Doing a happy dance, Lukey", Lorelai said with a childish voice and started to "dance" on the couch as well, which meant that she rocked her upper-body from side to side and waved her arms around. Sara giggled while she watched her mother and her brother, who was currently shaking his booty and "head-banged".

"Wonder where he got that from", Luke laughed, grabbed William by his waist and held him up over his head. William screeched in delight and laughed when Luke put him back down.

"Oh, there's more", he said then and ran back to the couch and ripped the paper off the next present. "Woa, all of that is mine!" he said and started the next round of dancing when he saw a bag full of sweets and chocolate.

"Yeah that is your sweets contingent for the next ten years", Luke grinned smugly.

"Oh shush you!" Lorelai said and swatted his arm. "Don't listen to him Will", she said then and William came back.

"You're just hoping that he will share with you", Luke pointed out.

"Rats, you got me", she said.

"Great a new house for Meeko and Barney. They will be so happy about that", William smiled when he saw the wooden house for his guinea-pigs.

"I hope so", Luke smiled.

"You bought that daddy?" William asked him curiously.

"No, I made that", Luke clarified.

"Thank you!", William yelled and hugged his father.

"You're welcome, but please stop yelling into my ear", Luke chuckled and rubbed his left ear.

"Hey hubby, what are we having for dinner later?" Lorelai asked suddenly.

"We didn't even have lunch yet and you are already thinking about dinner?"

"You're really surprised about that?" Lorelai shot back and raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"Stupid me", Luke replied and picked up William. He hugged him to him and then went on. " Actually I thought that I would make something of Will's choice for lunch and tonight we are going for dinner to Sniffy's".

"Yay, we can visit Maizy", Will said and unwrapped the next present which turned out to be a book.

"We haven't seen her in a while", Lorelai said.

"I drove over last week, because I got worried when we didn't hear anything from her", Luke replied.

"Oh you did? I tried to call her but I never got her on the phone. I haven't talked to her since the funeral", Lorelai said and she moved closer to Luke on the couch and placed her hand on his knee.

"Yeah I forgot to tell you because of all this craziness", Luke pointed to Will and the wrappers that lay everywhere on the floor.

"How is she holding up?"

"She tries to make it look like she's fine, but I can see that she is not. Who would be? She lost her husband", Luke sighed. Lorelai took his hand, knowing that the death of Buddy had shaken Luke as well.

"I think she will like it seeing the kids. Maybe they will cheer her up for a bit", she shrugged and gave his hand a squeeze.

"Maybe", he said with a sad smile. "Hey do you think Laila will get sick?" he asked then.

"So far it's just a headache. I think she got that from me, I also have headaches sometimes without being sick".

"True. But we should have some Tylenol here in case she will get sick tonight. She always comes up with something in the middle of the night".

"We still have some upstairs in the bathroom", Lorelai said after thinking about it for a minute.

"For kids?"

"Sure for kids. I think out daughter is too young to take the one's I am taking against my monthly cramps".

"Those are Tylenol?" Luke asked confused.

"I am not talking about the pill", Lorelai grinned. "Hey Will, what do you want to have for lunch?" she asked her son, who was trying out his new pens on the wrapping paper.

"Spaghetti Bolognese", he replied immediately.

"If we would let him he would eat Spaghetti Bolognese all day long", Lorelai grinned.

"You drink coffee all day long, mommy. Spaghetti are healthier", William shrugged without looking up.

"He does have a point", Luke laughed and got off the couch. "Guess I start cooking now", he said and walked into the kitchen.

"And what are we two doing now?" Lorelai asked Sara who still sitting in her lap.

"You could make my hair, mommy. Beauty day", the girl grinned.

"Ok, then go upstairs and grab the brush and whatever stuff you want to have in your hair", Lorelai replied and Sara hurried off. "Hey Will? Did you like your first day at school?" Lorelai asked then.

"the presents are great", the boy grinned and came over to Lorelai and sat down in her lap. "And I like that you and daddy are home all day and don't have to work", he admitted and hugged his mother. "But it sucks that all of my friends are in the other class".

"I know honey. But I am sure you will find new friends in your class soon and then you have twice as many friends", she tried to encourage him and rubbed his back.

"Maybe", he shrugged.

"Maybe I took the pink sparkling brush", Sara yelled when she came back down.

"Urgh", William made and climbed off his mother's lap. "I'm helping daddy with the spaghetti", he decided and marched off into the kitchen.

While Lorelai did Sara's hair and Laila was sleeping the two men cooked together, which meant that Luke let William chop or stir some stuff.

"Hey daddy", William asked after a while, "I think mommy should learn how to cook", he said and Luke recognized the contemplative look on his sons face.

"Why?"

"Because if you will die before mommy does, she will have nothing to eat", he replied. Luke was startled for a second, wondering where these thoughts were coming from, but then he saw the slight fear in his son's eyes, who was also still dealing with the loss of Buddy.

"Well she has you then, doesn't she?" he replied and ruffled through William's hair while he smiled at his son, to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, she'll always have me", William nodded and the case was closed.

**TBC**


	5. Maizy and a call

To finally end this endless description of one day, which could easily be one chapter I give you chapter 5 now, so that it comes to an end

* * *

**Chapter 5: ****Maizy and a call**

„Luke, I don't think Laila is up for going to Sniffy's", Lorelai told her husband the same day in the late afternoon.

"She's still having a headache?" he asked. Laila had joined them shortly at lunch but had been so whiny that they had put her back in bed.

"Yeah, I was just up there and wanted to wake her up, but she's out cold", Lorelai shrugged and sat down next to him on the couch.

"Maybe we should just wait a while longer. I don't want to leave her here but neither do I want to force her out if she is not feeling good", Luke sighed and lay the magazine he held on the table.

"Maybe you should go with Sara and Will and I stay here. You could bring us something back, I don't care if the food is cold".

"I know that you don't care if the food is cold, but I think the occasion needs a proper family dinner and not some rushed take out dinner", Luke said.

"You're right", Lorelai sighed and leaned her head against his upper arm.

"Maybe if we're lucky she'll feel better after she slept", Luke tried to be optimistic.

"And if she doesn't?" Lorelai asked sceptically.

"Then we stay here tonight, I will drive over and pick up some dinner from Sniffy's and bring Maizy with me", Luke proposed.

"Good idea", Lorelai nodded and pecked him on the lips.

"Where are Will and Sara by the way?" Luke asked then.

"Upstairs, testing William's new games", Lorelai smiled.

"If you ask me he got way too much presents. I mean, it's just the first day at school and not Christmas or his birthday. All the crazy people in the town got him something and at one point I waited for him to unwrap his new car or his own house", Luke said and started to play with Lorelai's hair.

"Well, they love him", she shrugged.

"I know, but still…" Luke said.

"Rory's birthday also always was like a holiday in this town".

"I know. But I don't think it's good that they spoil him so much. Back at my first day at school I got some pens, some sheets of paper and a knife and that's it", Luke disagreed.

"Well I'd rather have them buy him a car than a knife", Lorelai smiled.

"Me too, but that's not the point. I was just thinking about it somehow I think Lulu is right. I mean, don't get me wrong, I still think he should at least have his best friends in one class with him, but maybe she is right and he needs some perspective", Luke shrugged.

"Maybe. But if he is unhappy I will insist that he will change the class and if an extra town-meeting is necessary", Lorelai insisted.

"I'm ok with that but we should try it at least", Luke said.

"Ok", she nodded. "So how long will we give her to wake up?" she asked then.

"It's a school night. I would say if she wakes up within the next half hour and feels fine we go, if she keeps sleeping or does not feel good, then we will stay here", Luke decided and Lorelai nodded.

"Do you think that…" Lorelai started but was interrupted by the ringing of the phone. "Hello?" she replied. "Hey, honey! How are you?" she smiled and Luke knew that she was talking to Rory. "Ah that's great. And how's my favourite granddaughter?" Lorelai started to laugh. "Ah that's that age now. Sara was stuffing everything in her mouth back then and tried to chew it, which wasn't working at all. Then she got frustrated and angry. It was hilarious," she said. "Will? He is upstairs playing with Sara. Should I get him? Ah, ok. Yes, I will tell him that you called. Next Saturday? Yeah, that's fine. Ok, honey, greet Logan from me and give my girly a big kiss from her grandma". Luke was signalizing with his hand. "And from grandpa, too. I will. Bye", she said and hung up.

"Was she calling for Will?" Luke asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yes and to tell us that they will stop by next Saturday", Lorelai nodded.

"Aha", Luke said.

"Why don't I like the sound of that aha?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't know, it sounds just like an aha", Luke shrugged innocently.

"I know that aha. It's your "I know she wants something"- aha", she said and nudged him.

"Mommy", a voice suddenly appeared and then Laila came around the corner of the stairs.

"Hey baby, we thought you were asleep", Lorelai said and pulled Laila on her lap. The girl snuggled into the crook of Luke's arm, but remained sitting in her mother's lap.

"No, I heard the phone", Laila mumbled and rubbed her eyes.

"Is your head feeling better?" Luke asked her.

"A little", she nodded and closed her eyes.

"Hey don't fall asleep again. If you stay awake we can go to Sniffy's for dinner", Luke said and nudged her a bit.

"uh-kay", she nodded, but kept her eyes closed.

"Hey, baby come on. We will get dressed up and make your hair, 'kay?" Lorelai lured and Laila nodded slightly before she opened her eyes.

"Carry me mommy?" she asked and slung her arms around her mother's neck.

"One of these days I will get a back-spasm from carrying you three around all the time", Lorelai groaned, but carried her up the stairs anyway.

* * *

"Maizy! Maizy!" Sara yelled when they stepped into the restaurant until Luke lay his hand over her mouth.

"Be quiet!" he said, a sentence he always had to use with his daughter, because she was the younger version of her loud mother.

"But Maizy has to know we're here", Sara insisted and wanted to call her again, but Luke was faster and covered her mouth with his hand again.

"There are people eating and talking and they surely don't want to hear your annoying screaming. Go over to table, sit down, be quiet and I will go into the kitchen and get Maizy", he ordered and Sara shrugged and ran off to the table Luke had pointed at.

"Daddy, can I go with you into the kitchen?" William asked.

"No, you're…"Luke started but his son interrupted him.

"I am not too small anymore. I go to school now", he insisted and placed his hands on his hips.

"Try to get out of that one, bucko", Lorelai laughed and walked with Laila over to the table where Sara was already sitting on the bench.

"Follow me, be quiet and don't touch anything", Luke grumbled and William hopped after him with a happy smile on his face. In the kitchen there were several people looking at them and greeting Luke with a small wave while they stirred something and in the back of the kitchen, sitting on a table and starring off into space they found Maizy.

"Maizy, today was my first day at school", William said when he saw her and startled her. She caught herself quickly though and hugged him.

"I know Will. I have a present for you upstairs", she smiled and patted his head.

"I think for his next ten birthdays he already got the presents", Luke grumbled, then hugged the elder woman as well.

"What are you two boys doing here?" Maizy asked.

"Daddy is no boy", William giggled.

"We're here to have dinner for Will's big day and to see how you're doing", Luke said and lay one arm around her shoulders as he led her out into the restaurant.

"Oh don't worry about an old lady like me", Maizy sad and patted his hand. "Oh they are all here", she said happily when she saw the girls and Lorelai.

"Hello Maizy", Lorelai greeted her warmly and hugged her for a while.

"Maizy I called you but daddy said I shouldn't yell in here", Sara reported and gave her a hug as well.

"Well, don't listen to your daddy. When he was a boy he yelled in here as well", Maizy smiled.

"Yes and dad told me to stop it and I did", Luke said with a stern look.

"Oh sit down, sit down", Maizy shushed him and they all sat down. "What can I get you?" she asked then.

"Why don't you sit down and let me get the orders?", Luke asked.

"Lucas, this is my restaurant and as long as I will be able to crawl I will serve my guests myself. You are guests tonight so be a good boy and order", she lectured him.

"A good boy? I doubt that", Lorelai whispered in Luke's ear and gave him a look that made him blush.

"Jeez", he muttered quietly before he ordered. "Ok, the get me a water, soda for the kids and … Lorelai?"

"Uhm… I think I will take a glass of red wine", she decided.

"And to eat?" Maizy asked.

"Does it matter what we tell you?" Luke asked.

"Not really", Maizy shrugged and walked back into the kitchen to get their orders.

"She looks sad and she walks slower", Lorelai said quietly to Luke.

"Yeah I know. I hope she will feel better soon", he replied.

"Are you feeling better?"

"A bit. I try not to think about it too much. But being here is hard. So many memories", Luke admitted.

"Yeah, but those are good memories, right?" she asked and gave his knee a squeeze.

"Mostly", he smiled back and she knew the bad memories were the ones referring to the time after his father's death.

"So, here we have three apple juice and champagne", the waitress said when she brought their drinks.

"She'll never learn it", Luke shook his head. "Could you please bring me some water? I'm driving", Luke told the waitress.

"Sure, no problem", she nodded and left with a knowing smile.

"Daddy, can I have spaghetti?" William asked.

"You had spaghetti for lunch already and honestly I have no idea what Maizy will bring us", Luke said.

"Hopefully she won't remember Will's favourite. I don't really want to have another round of spaghetti Bolognese", Lorelai laughed and took the first sip of her champagne.

* * *

When they lay in bed that day after dinner, which luckily had been gumbo and not spaghetti, Lorelai was flipping through some lifestyle magazine while Luke had already switched off the light and rolled over on his side. Finally after twenty minutes Lorelai placed the magazine on the night-table with a sigh and switched off her light as well.

"It was a long day", Luke said and rolled on his back. Lorelai moved over and snuggled up against him.

"Yeah, but it was nice to have the day off. Tomorrow the routine will have us back", she said.

"Yep, but we have a date on Wednesday and that is something to look forward to", Luke replied, placed a kiss on her forehead and closed his eyes.

"Night hon'", Lorelai whispered and kissed his cheek.

"Night", he mumbled, already half asleep.

**  
**


	6. Tantrums and motels

**Chapter 6:**** Tantrums and motels**

Wednesday night had come and so had the date of Luke and Lorelai. They were currently still at home and while Lorelai was still getting ready Luke was arguing with William.

"But you will go out and stay up late! That's not fair!" William argued.

"Life's not fair, better learn that sooner than later and now get dressed", Luke said impatiently. William was standing in his boxer-shorts in front of his bed, his hands on his hips and his face red with fury, because he refused to change into his pyjamas and go to bed at seven thirty as usual.

"No!" William yelled, took his pyjama top and threw it at his father's feet.

"That's it! No more candy for you all week. And now get dressed or you won't go to soccer practice either", Luke yelled at him, loosing his patience completely.

"I don't care! If you stay up late and go out then I want too", William yelled back and threw his pants at his father as well.

"You are so staying in your room tonight! Stay in your boxer shorts, or for all I care run around naked, but mark my words: You will be in bed by seven thirty", Luke said, pointed his index finger at his son's face and then stomped outside and slammed the door shut behind him. He had just walked into the master bedroom when William opened his door and screamed "Noooo!" at the top of his lungs.

"I'm going to kill him", Luke said angrily to Lorelai and when she saw his red face she knew it was her time to step up.

"Honey, why don't you go and say goodbye to Laila and Sara and give the latest report to my parents who are downstairs. We'll meet in the living-room?" She asked and rubbed his arm soothingly. Luke nodded.

"I already told him no candy for a week", Luke gave her the update and then left for the twin's room while Lorelai walked to William's room.

She found William sitting on the cold hardwood floor, still only clad in his boxer-shorts.

"Hey baby. Isn't the floor a bit too cold to sit on it half naked?" she asked him and crouched down in front of him.

"Go away", he muttered and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Will, I just don't want you to get sick".

"I don't care. I don't want to go to bed at seven thirty", he shot back.

"You have school tomorrow and you have to get up", she tried to reason with him.

"I don't care about stupid school. I don't want to go there anymore".

"William it's only been three days and I am sure you will make good friends soon", Lorelai said and pulled him over to her by his arm. "Honey, you're already cold. You have to get changed", she said and rubbed his arms.

"No", he said, but she could already hear his defence crumble.

"Your grandparents are already downstairs and I am sure they will worry when you turn to ice", she replied, hugged him and stroked his neck softly. That always relaxed Luke and it also always helped with William. Like father like son. "Come on, baby. I'll help you", she said, picked him up and sat him on the bed and then helped him change into his pyjama. "Now some socks and then you can go down and greet your grandparents", she said and after he put on some socks they walked downstairs together. Luke was already waiting for her with her coat in his hand.

"Hello William, hello Lorelai", Richard greeted them and William immediately began to complain about his unfair father. Lorelai took Luke by the arm and led him out into the hallway and Emily followed them.

"So, he is back to his stubborn self. It took him quite a while", Emily remarked and referred to the time before Luke's and Sara's accident when William had been so stubborn that he had driven his parents crazy most of the time. After the accident he had become a little adult and although that attitude had lessened with time it was only currently that he had become as bad tempered again.

"I don't know. He does not like school and every night since Monday has been a fight because he refuses to go to bed. The mornings are even worse, because he refuses to get up and screams and cries", Luke sighed.

"He still hasn't made any friends?"

"He has, at least he has found some kids he can play with. But the school itself is more the problem. He hates sitting still and he has a problem with the lessons. It's a constant fight to get him to do his homework", Lorelai said.

"It's only been three days, I am sure he will adjust", Emily replied.

"I really hope so. If this will continue for the rest of his school time you will have me in a straight jacket when he's in third grade", Luke groaned and Lorelai placed a hand on his arm.

"Shall we?" she asked.

"Yup", Luke nodded and helped her in her coat.

"Have fun you two and don't worry", Emily said and closed the door behind them.

* * *

They had decided on dinner and a movie and so their first stop was a small Italian restaurant in Hartford. They had been there for a couple of times already and really liked it because it was small and cosy and had really good food without being too fancy. A single white candle was lit on their table and they drank red wine to go with the spaghetti they had ordered.

"Mmh, I think he will calm down when he has gotten used to school", Lorelai said and swallowed the rest of her spaghetti.

"Hopefully. But I can't get rid of the feeling that there's more to it. He wasn't too fond of the rules in pre-school and kindergarten either, but he never acted like that", Luke replied and took another sip of his wine.

"What are you thinking of?"

"I really don't know. It's just more a feeling than an actual idea of what is wrong", Luke shrugged.

"I think we should wait a while longer and when he hasn't adjusted in, let's say… by the end of the month we will talk to Lulu again", Lorelai said.

"Sounds good. And I wanted to talk to you about something else", Luke replied.

"Laila's headache?" Lorelai asked.

"Great minds do think alike", Luke chuckled.

"I don't think it's anything bad because it comes and goes and does not seem that bad. She's not sick either", Lorelai said and took his hand in hers on top of the table.

"Yeah, but this is going on for a while now and I think we should have her checked by a doctor", Luke replied and played with her fingers and her wedding band.

"You're right. Better save than sorry", she nodded, then looked up at him and giggled. "Dirty".

"Where was there a dirty?" he asked confused.

"Better save than sorry? Hello? I usually only used that in another context", she grinned.

"Well if everything you said in 'another context' is supposed to be dirty we would have to learn another language in order to be able to talk normally", he replied.

"Hm, we could learn French. I know some dirty words in French", she grinned saucily at him.

"Really?" he asked with a smile of his own.

"You want me to teach you? Tonight? In bed?", she asked and leaned a bit forward so he could have a better look at her cleavage.

"If you keep that up we might have to skip the movie and rent a room at a cheap motel", he said in a low and sexy voice.

"Kinky. We never did that and I really like the idea. Might add some spice", she grinned.

"So you think we need spice?" his eyebrows shot up.

"No, I don't. I am perfectly fine without 'spice', but it can never hurt to be a bit… adventurous. And three kids in the house really ruins all opportunities for hot kitchen sex, or doing it in the hall way or on the living-room floor", she whispered and leaned closer.

"those were the days", Luke smiled and then kissed her softly. When he wanted to pull back Lorelai stopped him by placing her hand on his neck and nibbling at his bottom lip.

"If you keep that up you will have us arrested for indecent exposure", he said when she finally let him pull back.

"Prison sex, never had that", she whispered into his ear and kissed his cheek. Luke only laughed and waved for the waiter so that he could pay.

"You know I don't really want to see that movie"; Lorelai said when they walked hand in hand to the car.

"You want to see another one?" Luke played dumb.

"No. I want to drive to the next exit and check into that motel there", she grinned and leaned against her car-door.

"You're kidding", Luke said, but didn't sound that sure.

"I am not. Just think about it, it could be fun. We check in and tell them you're my boss and I am your secretary. Then we go to the cheap room and you press me up against the door and rip my clothes off.", she said and slung her arms around his neck, then went on in a low and seductive voice. " You discover that there's nothing underneath this skirt other than smooth skin. That makes you so hot that you just open your trousers and you take me up against the door. Then afterwards you make me scream on the bed. Haven't done that in a while, because we would wake up the kids. And then it's time for round three in the shower and this time I make you scream my name while you cum", she finished. During her speech Luke's eyes had become darker and darker and when she stopped talking he kissed her passionately.

"I wouldn't be opposed to car sex in a secluded area", Lorelai whispered and squeezed his butt.

"Please tell me you're wearing panties", Luke said when he broke the kiss.

"Only one way for you to find out", she grinned and opened her door and got into the car. Luke took a deep breath then walked around the car and got in as well.

"Where did you say that motel was?" he asked and started the engine.

* * *

"Hello, we're back", Lorelai announced quietly when they arrived back home. Richard and Emily were in the living-room. Emily was watching some movie while Richard read a book.

"Hello. You're late this time", Emily said and looked pointedly at her watch.

"Yes, sorry. The movie was really long", Lorelai lied and Luke looked down to hide the small smile on his face. "The kids are asleep?" she asked then.

"Yes, no problem there. They were all in bed by seven thirty and asleep by eight", Richard reported.

"William as well?" Luke asked.

"Yes, I think the fighting and complaining wore him out", Emily replied and got up. "We should go now, Richard. It' s really late and I have an appointment tomorrow morning". Richard nodded and got up as well.

"Sorry, mom. We really didn't intend to stay out that long", Lorelai apologized.

"Did you at least have a good time?" Emily asked.

"We really did", Luke nodded.

"Was the movie good?" Richard asked and handed Emily her coat.

"Best movie ever", Lorelai smiled and nodded.

"Oh what was it's name maybe we could go and see it as well. We haven't been to the movies in ages", Richard said.

"Oh.. uhm.. I don't remember really dad. Something with motel I think", Lorelai tried to be innocent, but the look on Emily's face told her that her mother had caught them and that Luke blushed deeply didn't help either.

"Good night Lorelai. Good night Luke", Emily just said and led Richard outside before this embarrassing conversation would drag on.

"I feel like I am sixteen again and just got caught by my girlfriends parents", Luke groaned when the front-door shut. Lorelai only laughed.

"Well, now they are gone and we have the house all to ourselves. What could we possibly do?" she asked and unbuttoned the first button on his shirt.

"You do know that I am nearly fifty and not sixteen anymore", he said and slipped his arms around her waist.

"So we go to sleep grandpa?" she asked and pouted.

"Let's go upstairs and then we'll see", he shrugged and they walked upstairs, checked on the kids and then locked their bedroom door behind them.

Please review

TBC


	7. Harry Potter drama

Chapter 7: Harry Potter drama

A few days later after Lorelai had dropped of Sara in the kindergarten and William at school, of course with the usual drama that included, she made her way to the diner, Laila in tow.

„Hey Mr. Danes, ready to rumble?" she asked Luke who stood behind the counter and was scribbling something on his ordering pad.

„Just a second", he muttered without looking up and then hurried into the kitchen.

„Mommy can I have a chocolate milkshake?" Laila asked when Lorelai lifted her up and put her down on a stool at the counter.

„Not now we are already late. Later when we get back, ok?"

„And when you behaved! No screaming, no kicking, no swearing, no spiting", added Luke who just came back.

„I never spit daddy! Only Will does", the girl protested.

„Seems like your daddy mixed that up, huh?", Lorelai said to her daughter and grinned at Luke.

„But I am a girl and Will's a boy", Laila was still confused.

„Oh honey, is today the big day?" Miss Patty interrupted them. She had just entered the diner and found the town's favorite family.

„I have to go to the doctor", Laila told her.

„Oh you poor thing! Let's hope you won't get an injection or a suppository", Patty gushed and Luke squeezed his eyes hut when he heard what she was saying. They had spend hours already telling Laila that she wouldn't get an injection, that this wouldn't be like the immunizations and that nobody would hurt her. William had told her all kinds of horrible things that would happen at the doctor's office. Laila had spend an hour crying afterwards, which had caused Luke to make her her favorite chocolate pudding and William to have no game boy for the next two days at least.

It had surprised Lorelai a it how much pleasure William had taken in teasing and scaring his little sister and he seemed only satisfied when she had been crying. This was uncharacteristic for the usually really sensible William. When Lorelai had asked him, he had just stared at her without saying a word, which had caused Luke to snap and take his toy from him.

„Mommy, you said that the doctor won't hurt me! You promised!" Laila said shocked and tears were already showing in her eyes, slowly dripping down on her cheeks.

„Yes, I promised and your daddy promised as well. Patty is just trying to find a reason to pity you so she can spoil you once we're back", Lorelai soothed her and wiped her tears away.

„Is that true Miss Patty?" Laila asked her dancing- teacher suspiciously. Patty first wanted to deny it, but when Luke cleared his throat and he and Lorelai glared at her she knew better.

„Yes, it's true what your mother says doll. Nothing painful will happen at that doctors office", Patty nodded and then excused herself and sat down at a free table.

„Yeah well... that's what my mother always old me and then the dentist ripped out two of my teeth without any medication. I was bleeding and crying for days, but my mother send me to school anyway", Kirk said, but hurried out of the diner when he saw Luke's look, which clearly said 'I will kill you'. Laila immediately had another panick attack and started to cry again.

„Laila, princess, we are not going to the dentist so don't losten to Kirk. And nowadays the dentists don't do that anymore.You know Julie, right? She never hurt you", Lorelai said and Laila nodded at her shoulder, calming down.

„One fine day..." Luke muttered and Lorelai had to smile. Her husband would never change.

„Speaking of doctors: When do you have your next appointment?" Lorelai asked him.

„Appointment? I have no appointment", Luke shook his head and grabbed his wallet and his keys from the counter.

„Of course you do. You have to go for you check up once a year. And if I am not mistaken that year was up two weeks ago", Lorelai insisted and helped Laila off the chair.

„I don't need more check ups. I am fine. When I was released I was fine, two months later I was fine. Six months after that I was still fine and a year later I am still perfectly fine", he ranted.

„Luke I will not even discuss this with you. If I have to I will call Jess and make him carry you there", she threatened.

„Jess can not carry me", Luke insisted.

„If your unconscious because I knocked you out with a bat he sure could".

„Now that would really be great for my health. I bet I wouldn't be ok then", Luke deadpaned and held the door open for his two ladies.

„We have other things to do now, but think that I will drop this", Lorelai told him and followed him outside where she had parked their car.

„Daddy are you scared that the doctor will give you an injection?" Laila asked when she hoped into the car.

„No, I am not", Luke grumbled.

„Yes he is. Now you caught him", Lorelai nodded and got into the car as well.

„Didn't you say we have other things to do now?" Luke asked her and gave her a pointed look.

„Okay okay, but we will talk about this", Lorelai emphasized again when Luke started the car and drove out of his parking spot.

* * *

They arrived at the pediatrician's office half an hour later.

„Mommy, I don't want to go in. What if he gives me an injection? Or he has to take blood? I want to keep my blood", Laila cried.

„Oh honey, what should this old doctor do with your blood? He's not a vampire you know", Lorelai tried to soothe the panicked child.

„And if he does you will live", Luke added his five cents.

„Noooo! I want to keep my blood", Laila sobbed.

„Hey you're not helping here", Lorelai scolded Luke.

„What? It's not helping either when you're promising her things you might not be able to keep. You don't know what kind of tests he has to do and neither do I. So don't tell her this like it's a sure thing he won't. If he has to run some tests and he needs a blood sample for it he will do it no matter what you promised to soothe her", Luke said reasonably.

„Yeah yeah", Lorelai muttered while Luke picked Laila up and carried her. He stroked over her back to calm her, but it wasn't really helping. Ever since Laila and William had seen Sara and Luke in the hospital after their accident they always freaked out completely when it came to doctors visits, especially if any kind of injection might be necessary.

„Hi, Lorelai Danes. We're having an appointment because of Laila here", Lorelai informed the nurse behind the desk when they had entered the office.

„You can go right through Mrs. Danes. Dr. Lewis is ready to see you", the nurse replied.

„Wow, that's fast", Lorelai said surprised.

„Yeah the little guy who had an appointment before freaked out on his mother and was still sitting in a tree when they had the appointment", the dark haired woman explained.

„I thought only cats do that", Lorelai laughed.

„Apparently not", the nurse chuckled and the three walked into the room where the doctor was already waiting for them.

„Good morning Mrs. Danes. Mr. Danes. Hello Laila", the doctor greeted them. He was an elder man with a grey beard and Lorelai had already consulted him with Rory, so she knew him for quite a while. After the accident he had been the one doing Sara's check-ups and the kids knew him pretty well, which wasn't always a good thing. They knew going to the doctor usually meant immunization- so injections, or they were sick and needed some kind of medicine, which also wasn't good. They were still too small to understand that the intake of medicine and getting better were directly connected.

„She's a bit moody today", Luke excused his still sobbing daughter, who was clinging to him with everything she had.

„Am noooot", she wailed.

„Laila why don't you tell me why you are here today?" the doctor addressed her directly, but she shook her head without turning to look at him.

„Maybe your mommy can tell me then?" Laila nodded.

„She keeps getting headaches. They come and go and usually they are really strong", Lorelai replied.

„In certain situations or just out of the blue?" the doctor wanted to know.

„I don't know. We haven't seen any pattern so far", Lorelai shrugged.

„Does one of you two tend to have headaches?"

„Yes, I do when I am stressed", Lorelai nodded and the doctor looked at Luke.

„Only when they are all yelling like crazy, but I think that's normal", he replied and pressed a kiss to Laila's hair. She was calming down and listening to the adults talking.

„Was she sick? The flue? Anything?"

„No, nothing. Just the headaches", Lorelai said.

„Ok, that doesn't sound like meningitis, which is a really good thing. Most common are two things: A problem with the spine, like a scoliosis or a problem with the eyes. She is a bit too young for the scoliosis to cause problems. And if I remember correctly you're a ballerina?" he asked the girl. And for the first time Laila lifted her head from her father's shoulder and turned her head to look at the doctor.

„Uhuh", she nodded.

„That's a very good thing. I bet you are really good", he smiled.

„Miss Patty says I am", she nodded again.

„So I think she has too many muscles in her back and she is too young to already have headaches because of a slight scoliosis. One could check that, but I think we should control her eyes first", the doctor told Luke and Lorelai.

„How can problems with the eye sight cause a headache?" Luke asked confused.

„Oh that is really common. That is why so many first graders get glasses because then the parents realize that they have problems with their eyesight".

„I had that when I was a kid", Lorelai nodded. „It annoyed my mother endlessly because it was just one more thing I failed her. I didn't wear the glasses too often because she didn't want me to. So I had a constant headache. In the end I just couldn't read anymore what the teacher had written on the blackboard and had to do something. By the time I was old enough for contacts though", Lorelai told them.

„Ok, then. Let's see. Laila I bet you can't read yet", the doctor said, knowing from earlier visits that she was already able to read slowly.

„I can read", she protested.

„But you are not in school yet. That's impossible", he insisted and Lorelai and Luke grinned at each other, knowing that the doctor's trick would work perfectly with Laila. With William he wouldn't have a chance if William wouldn't want to read, but with the twins this was always working.

„I can read and write my name", Laila insisted,

„I don't believe you! You have to prove it to me".

„Okay", she nodded eagerly, the tears forgotten.

„See this poster over there with the letters. Come here to my side and then read the first line", the doctor said and positioned her on the mark on the floor without that she realized it.

„That's an A and a K and a P and a U", Laila said, „but that's not a word", she shrugged.

„Huh, strange. I bet one candy bar though that you can't read the line underneath", he challenged her and got her to read the next two lines. In the third line he requested her to read she got problems though, squeezed her eyes together, tried to see the letters and then stepped closer to the poster and then started to tell him which letters the poster showed.

„I think you really earned yourself a candy-bar. Why don't you go out to Sally at the desk and tell her that she should give you one?", he said and Laila was out of the room like a flash.

„I think we found the reason for your daughter's headaches. You should consult an eye specialist though he will be able to tell you what to do. By the results of this little test here I think she will need glasses though", the doctor said.

„Ah Jeez, I can already hear her yammering and protesting that she won't wear glasses when Sara doesn't wear glasses", Luke groaned.

„We can take Will and Sara with us and get their eyes checked as well. It can't hurt. And if Laila really is the only one who needs glasses then thank god for Harry Potter. We will tell her that she will look just like him and I guess it should be ok. It can only happen that Sara then wants some glasses as well", Lorelai replied and took Luke's hand, relieved that the problem was something so small.

„If the problems won't get better with the glasses we can still run some tests. But she seems healthy otherwise and I really think we found the reason for her headaches", the doctor smiled and got up.

„Thank you", Luke said and shook his hand.

„Keep me updated on the case. And I have to say I find it remarkable that all your kids were already able to read and write before school. Did you ever think about making an intelligence test?" the doctor asked when Lorelai shook his hand.

„Huh, I guess we never thought of that. Rory could also read before school, so I guess I just thought that's normal", Lorelai replied surprised.

„It's is not. Think about it and if you decide to do so then tell me and I will arrange it", he said and they left his office. The picked up Laila from the nurse and then left and headed to their car.

„I will make an appointment at the eye specialist once I am at the Inn. You wanna come or can I arange any time?" Lorelai asked Luke.

„I'd like to come with you and you can arrange any time I'll be there", he replied and helped his daughter into the car and buckled her up.

„You think we should let them run the test?" Lorelai asked when he got into the car as well.

„Sure, we need to know if she needs the.. uh... you know", Luke said and gestured with his hand. He didn't want to say 'glasses' too often, because he wasn't too fond of starting the drama earlier than necessary.

„ I mean the other test. The intelligence thingy", Lorelai clarified.

„I don't know. What good could it do? Rory was fine without it. Then they tell us how or if they are intelligent and then what? I mean there aren't any consequences really so I don't see the point of that test. If they are good you can be proud and brag „Oh my kid is so smart" and if the result is bad you always worry if your kid will make it through school or drop out because it's dumb like a brick and will join a drug ring before he turns thirteen", Luke said.

„True. So we will live in ignorant bliss. That's nice", Lorelai smiled.

„I like that better. It's not changing anything anyway. They are our kids and we love them, intelligent or not", Luke shrugged.

„I concur", Lorelai nodded and gave his arm a squeeze.

„I mean we like TJ and I better don't think about his IQ", Luke chuckled.

„Oh no, let's better not", Lorelai laughed and turned around to her daughter. She winked at her and pinched the girl's calf playfully.

* * *

They first drove to Hardfort and dropped Laila off at the Gilmore's. It was too late t bring her to kindergarten and Emily would watch William and Sara after school anyway so she would bring Laila with her. Afterwards Luke drove directly to the Inn and then walked to the diner. It wasn't that often anymore that Emily watched the kids, because they had managed to arange their working schedules in a way that always one of them was home. Today though because of the trip to the doctor they both had to work longer. Luke had missed most of the breakfast crowd and Lorelai hadn't been to the Inn before their trip at all so she had to catch up on her work.

When Lorelai called the eye specialist and looked at her schedule she realized that she hadn't told Luke yet that Rory and her family would stop by this weekend. They hadn't made it Saturday because Rory's daughter had been sick so they had rescheduled. It had been a while since she had seen them and Lorelai was looking forward to it.

Since she had Eleanor it was always fun when Rory stopped by because the kids were crazy about their little niece and Luke wouldn't let her out of his view, so Rory and Lorelai always had a lot of time to themselves without having to worry about the jealousness of the little ones.

When Lorelai came home in the evening Emily had already gotten the kids ready for bed. The twins were sitting in the living room, playing some board game with their grandmother while William was nowhere to be seen.

„Your son is upstairs in his room. He refused to do his homework and threw his book on floor. Several times I might add. So I send him up to his room and told him you would deal with it. I am too old to deal with such a rebellious kid. I had enough of that when you were young", Emily said in a snooty tone and Lorelai groaned in annoyance. This was William's second week at school and she felt like his mood got worse with each passing day. With most of the kids he got along fine, but he had already had detention twice, because he had refused to cooperate with the teacher or had thrown his stuff around. One time he had even insulted Lulu, told her she was a stupid woman, who looked like a troll.

Luke and Lorelai were angry with him on one hand, but worried on the other, since William had never acted thos way before. No matter how wild and uncontrolable he had been as a three year old he had never insulted strangers, teachers or babysitters.

Lorelai dropped her purse on the table in the living room and then walked upstairs slowly, knowing she had to fight with her son once again.

She found him lying on his stomach on the floor talking to his guineapig who was lying next to him.

„Hey you in the blue pyjama. You will go downstairs, apologize to your grandmother and then come back up here, get your books and do your homework. Your father will be back in half an hour and you better be done by then. I will not stand up for you again William. Whatever punishment he will give you, you will have to go through. And now get that ppig into it's cage and hurry up", she told him angrily.

„I don't care. I don't want to do the stupid homework!"

„You will do it"

„I won't! You can't make me!" he yelled and startled the pig who ran under his bookshelve.

„William, why are you making such a big deal about this stupid homework? We both know that you are smart enough to do it. Ten minutes and you're done", she tried to reason with him.

„But I don't want to do it and I don't want to go to stupid school anymore", he yelled.

„Would it be better if you could go to the other class?" Lorelai asked him, tried to calm this argument down.

„I don't care which class! I don't want to go there anymore!" he yelled, took his english book, opened it and ripped out the first page.

„William!" Lorelai exclaimed and stared at him unbelivingly.

„If you will ripp out one more page I will take Meeko and Barney and bring them to the sanctuary. No more tantrums, no more arguing. You will do your homework! You got me? You pull one more stunt like this and they are gone. I am so fed up with your stupid behaviour!" Luke's loud voice suddenly echoed through the room and startled both Lorelai and William.

„No", William whispered when he found his voice again and stared wide eyed at his father.

„You heard me", Luke hissed, turned on his heel and left the room.

„I hate you! All of you!" William muttered, but picked up the book and marched to his desk, sat down and started his homework without another look at his mother, who still stood in the doorway, her forehead wrinkled in worry.

After another minute se closed the door quietly and walked to their bedroom where she knew she would find Luke.

„You're home early", she said, lacking ideas what else to say.

„This is over now. I am done with being understanding. I was not joking Lorelai. One more event like this and I will take them away", Luke told her when he turned around and looked at her.

„But please not to the animal shelter", Lorelai replied.

„No to Kirsten, but he doesn't need to know that", Luke nodded and gave her a small smile. She sighed and went over to him and hugged him.

„Rory and Co will come over on Saturday", she muttered into his shirt.

„More chaos, yipee", he deadpanned and slung his arms around her.

„Elli is better again so they will stop by now", she explained.

„They want something", Luke nodded.

„Maybe. But we will deal with it as it comes. I am more worried about Will. We should talk to Lulu again. This can't be normal. He seems... terrified to go to school. He says he gets along with the kids in his class, I know the teachers and they are nice, so I don't get his problem." she sighed again.

„I will make an appointment for next week when I pick them up tomorrow", Luke replied.

„We won't have time for that tomorrow, We have an appointment at the eye specialist at three tomorrow, so we really have to hurry to make it", Lorelai said and stepped out of his arms.

„Ok, then the day after tomorrow", Luke shrugged. „I will go and shower and then we can tuck the twins in. Maybe Will will be done with his homework by then", Luke said and opened the drawer and got some socks and boxers out.

„Ok, I will be downstairs, listen some more to my mother's lectures and then bid her goodbye gracefully and obedient", she said and they both left the bedroom.

**TBC**


	8. Stradivary Play

**Chapter 8:**** Stradivari play**

It was Saturday morning, nine am and Lorelai was already exhausted. The last week had been incredibly tiring. Beside the usual troubles with William the boy had now, after his fall out with his father, stopped talking to his parents all together. He answered their questions with short replies, said something when he had to, but other then that he had just stopped talking. He wouldn't tell them about his day anymore and had even stopped complaining about school and his homework. He still didn't do it, but instead of throwing his books around and screaming he now just sat there and looked at them, arms crossed in front of his chest. 'Sitting it out' Lorelai called it and honestly she was out of ideas what to do. She knew that it needed time to digest what exactly was bothering William, but exactly that time was what was lacking at the moment.

Between the Inn and the diner Luke and she ran to doctor apointments, then, after it was clear that Laila really needed glasses, to the optician. Of course then Sara decided she wanted glasses as well and so they had to go again and get her some fake glasses so she would stop complaining.

Now this Saturday Rory and Logan had announced their visit and although Lorelai was looking forward to seeing her daughter and her grand- daughter again she also wished for some time, peace and quiet to find out what was really wrong with William.

She had hoped that Luke would get him talking, since the two shared a really close bond, but since Luke had threatened to take the guineapigs away William was avoiding his father whenever he could.

"Good morning", Lorelai greeted Luke, who was standing in the kitchen making breakfast when she came down the stairs, her bathrobe slung tightly around her, and sat down on a kitchen- chair. Luke was wearing his usual grey sweatpants and a black T-shirt and neither shoes nor socks.

"Morning", Luke said and flipped the pancakes.

"The kids are already up?" Lorelai wanted to know.

"Sara and Laila are upstairs getting dressed and Will is hiding in his room. I think I heard him, but I am not sure he is really awake", Luke said and poked the pancakes with the spatula.

"You have to talk to him. This can't go on like this", Lorelai said and sounded even to her own ears like she was begging.

"I will when I can, but I don't think that my threat is the main problem here. There is something wrong in school and if he won't tell us then maybe we have to talk to Lulu again"

"We definitely have to talk to Lulu again", Lorelai nodded and gave Luke a small smile when he placed a cup of coffee in front of her. He walked back to the stove and grabbed the plate with the pancakes and placed it on the table. Just when he was grabbing some plates from the cupboard Laila and Sara came into the kitchen, both still dressed in their pajamas, the curls standing in every direction, but both wore their glasses.

"Hey you two, daddy just told me you were getting dressed and I thought that means you would wear normal clothes now, Seems like you were just naked before", Lorelai smiled when she saw them.

"We weren't naked mommy. Why should we be naked?" Sara asked and shook her head. Laila sat down on her chair, but her sister kept standing in front of her mother, waiting for an answer.

"Maybe you slept naked?", she asked them in a fake deep voice and had no idea how to get out of this again.

"We don't sleep naked, not like you and daddy", Sara shook her head again and climbed on Lorelai's lap and took a bite of her mother's pancakes.

"Jeez", Luke muttered and then turned around and said louder "We're not sleeping naked".

"Not true daddy. When I had the ear infection and came into your room you were both sleeping naked", Laila disagreed and Luke sat down at the table.

"We're locking the door from now on", Luke told Lorelai with a pointed look and then waved his hands in direction of his daughters. "And you drink your tea and eat your pancakes", he ordered.

Sara looked up, mischief reflecting in her eyes and smiled at her sister. "Daddy is embarrassed, he doesn't like the word naked", she told Laila in a loud whisper and the three Danes' women started laughing.

"I'm looking after Will", Luke grumbled, got up and left the kitchen. When he arrived upstairs he first closed the door to the twins' bedroom because he couldn't stand the chaos and then he walked to William's room and knocked softly on the door. William was lying on his bed, reading a book.

"Hey Will, don't you wanna eat something? Breakfast is ready", Luke told him. William kep reading and didn't even look up from his book. Luke sighed and walked into the room and sat down on the bed beside his son. "Look Will, you know me very well and you know that I sometimes say things I don't mean, ok? I don't know what happens at school and I really wish you would tell me. But no matter what I can't accept it when you're not behaving, ok? You know you can tell us everything, right?" Luke prodded and took the book out of William's hands when he saw that his son was just staring blankly at the pages. "I'm really sorry", Luke told him and patted his shoulder.

"I don't wanna go to school anymore", William just said and his eyes welled up with tears.

"Hey buddy", Luke said soothingly and pulled him in his lap and held him tight and let him cry into his chest. "Will, you have to go to school, but I promise we will talk to Lulu and the other teachers and then find a solution. First thing tomorrow morning we're doing that", Luke assured him and pressed a kiss to his son's forehead.

"Promise?" William asked.

"I promise you that we will fix that", Luke nodded. "Breakfast? I need some backup against the three crazy girls down there", Luke changed the topic then in an attempt to cheer William up.

"What did they do now?" William asked and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Stupid girly stuff", Luke avoided an actual answer and got off the bed.

"Stupid girly stuff", William muttered and followed Luke downstairs into the kitchen.

"Aw, there he is again our naked Lukey Pookie", Lorelai laughed when she saw Luke.

"And Willy too", Sara teased, following her mother's lead while Laila just giggled.

"Stupid girly stuff", William muttered again and sat down on his chair while Luke got him a plate and some tea.

"Aha, you were chatting about us delightful ladies up there", Lorelai giggled in Luke's direction and ruffled through William's hair afterwards.

"Don't you talk to me", Luke said and gave her a pointed look and winked.

"Aw, so I have to pester my beautiful baby boy about it", she turned to William and pinched his cheek, knowing that he hated it.

"Don't you talk to me either", he told her and nodded at his father, sharing a look of conspiracy. Lorelai smiled only brighter and pressed a big fat kiss on her son's cheek.

* * *

In the afternoon the doorbell rang and Lorelai knew it would be Rory with her family.

"Get you aunts and uncle's butts down here, you're niece is here!" Lorelai yelled and then went to open the door.

"Nice to know we are appreciated as well", Rory deadpanned when her mother opened the door.

"Shush you and come to mommy!", Lorelai said and hugged her eldest daughter.

"I missed my mommy", Rory pouted and hugged Lorelai tighter.

"I missed my baby", Lorelai replied.

"They are at the baby/mommy phase again?" Luke asked Logan when he came down the stairs with the kids.

"Yup. Hi man, good to see ya", Logan smiled and he and Luke shook hands in a very manly way, with some pats at the upper arms.

"Hi Elli", Sara and Laila leaned over their baby niece, while William first greeted Logan, with the same handshake as Luke.

"And I missed you too, daddy", Rory exclaimed when she stepped back from Lorelai and then slung her arms around Luke's middle and hugged him like a child would.

"Good to have you here, kiddo", he said, ruffled through her hair just like he did it with the actual kids.

"Oooh, she has gotten so much bigger. Hi Elli!" Lorelai cooed at the baby, unbuckled her from the car seat and picked her up.

"Mommy, I wanna hold her too!" Laila whined and reached up to her mother.

"Princess, wait till we all sit down in the living-room and then you can have her, ok? She's too heavy for you to carry", Lorelai said and tickled her daughter's nose with one of her pigtails.

"Me too! Me too!" Sara exclaimed immediately.

"Of course you too. But how about handing her over to grandpa first?" Luke asked and took Eleanor from Lorelai.

"Don't call yourself grandpa! That would me grandma and that makes me sound so old", Lorelai complained and lead the way into the living room where she sat down on the couch. "And isn't it nice? I have her for a few seconds and she is drooling all over me", Lorelai sighed and rubbed over the wet spot on her shoulder.

"Sorry, but she is getting her teeth", Rory smiled apologetically.

"Aw, she is really growing up too fast", Lorlai pouted and stroked over her granddaughter's fuzzy blonde hair.

"You could always have another one yourself", Logan joked.

"Ha! Oh no!", Lorelai snorted and shook her head vehemently. "These three are enough, believe me".

"So you're not interested in another one? Not even for .. let's say .. two days?" Rory asked and suddenly a light bulb went off in Luke's head.

"Oh no! No, no, no, no, no", he said. "No way!"

"Look at her, isn't she cute?" Rory asked him with her puppy eyes.

"Very, but only for as long as her parents are taking her back home at the end of the day", Luke replied and placed Elli on Laila's lap, who was holding her niece proudly.

"Why do you want to leave her with us anyway?" Lorelai asked them.

"I have a business meeting in China and will be away for at least two weeks and Rory has the offer to make an interview in LA, so she would have to leave for two days", Logan replied and finally lifted William in his lap, because the boy had snuggled closer and closer to him.

"If Ellie would be a boy I would take her for two days", William smiled at Logan.

"That is really sweet of you", Rory replied and rolled her eyes.

" I told you I wanted a nephew", William told her and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Sorry buddy", Logan laughed and tickled him.

"I thought you have a nanny?" Luke spoke up after a short moment of silence.

"We do, but I just hired a new one a week ago and I don't want to leave Ellie alone with a stranger for two days straight", Rory explained.

"Lane?" Lorelai asked.

"Twins?" Rory replied.

"Emily and Richard?"

"Not after his heart-attack", Rory said.

"That was a year ago", Lorelai replied.

"Still: heart-attack… and they are always watching Will and the girls".

"We do too", Lorelai nodded.

"We're their parents", Luke rolled his eyes.

"Hey, not helping with the argument here", Lorelai told him.

"Sorry", Luke said to Lorelai and then turned to Rory and Logan. "You know we love to watch Ellie for a few hours, that's no problem. But at the moment we just can't keep her here over the weekend. There are some things we need to take care of at first and that's really important", he said and glanced at William.

"Look, we know you have to work on Monday and you have the kids and Maizy to look after and everything, but I really wouldn't ask you if I knew another solution. I really have to do this interview otherwise I might as well quit my job and everything I studied and worked so hard for would be in vain. Please Luke, mom, please just this once and I promise I'll be back as soon as the interview is over", Rory begged.

"Ahhh", Luke sighed and looked down at the baby with the blonde hair and the huge blue eyes. Another Gilmore girl which had wrapped him around her little finger. "You'll be back Monday morning", he told her and pointed his finger to her face.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you Dad", Rory said and hugged him.

"Huh, you played him like a Stradivari, nice", Lorelai nodded approvingly at her daughter's persuasion skills, but had an edge in her voice that made Luke know that he was in trouble as soon as they would be alone.

TBC


	9. In the doghouse

**Chapter 9:**** In the doghouse**

„So, Mr. Grandpa you already decided if you're taking the guestroom with little Ellie here or if you go and bring down one of the cribs from the attic, set it up in the living-room and make yourself comfortable on the couch?" Lorelai asked Luke later that night when Rory and Logan had left and Ellie was staying with them officially now. Luke was sitting on the couch, Ellie in his lap, the other three beside him and Lorelai grinned at him when she walked into the living-room after saying goodbye to Rory and Logan.

"So I'm officially in the dog-house now?" he asked and put Ellie down on her blanket on the floor.

"We don't have a dog", Sara said and kneeled down beside her niece.

"Exactly, we don't have one, but if we would have one: You would be decorating it with your stuff right now", Lorelai nodded and sat down next to Luke on the couch. "What the hell were you thinking?" she asked him then.

"Mommy, don't curse", Laila lectured her.

"Sorry", Lorelai muttered and stared at Luke, waiting for his explanation.

"I just… I thought…" Luke started and waved his arms around in agitation.

"Then don't think the next time", Lorelai snapped at him.

"Hey! I just couldn't stand the thought that they would leave Ellie alone with another babysitter, who is a complete stranger. You know as well as I do that Rory would have left even if Ellie would have to stay with that stranger. And it's not right! You don't leave your kids with the babysitter all the time. Not more than necessary and not for more than a few hours in a row. But Ellie here knew her last babysitter better than her father and I am waiting for the day when she will start talking and then call her new nanny "Mommy", because she will have no idea who Rory is",. Luke ranted to defend himself. "I mean we had three babies at the time and we still managed. Of course Emily and Richard helped us out, but that was like two hours a day when I was stuck in lunch rush and you had to leave for the Inn. But they keep handing Ellie to strangers, while they jet around the world without even calling", he stopped slightly out of breath.

"Well I doubt calling would help, Ellie can't talk yet", Lorelai said, still not pacified.

"I'm sorry, I should have talked to you first before agreeing", Luke sighed.

"Well if you had talked to me, or even listened to me when I was talking to Rory and Logan there wouldn't have been any agreeing!"

"You're really in trouble, daddy", William said, his expression fraught with meaning.

"Not kidding", Luke muttered and leaned back on the couch, covered his face with his hands, closed his eyes and sighed deeply. Lorelai looked at him then cradled his face in the palm of her hand and pressed her lips to his cheek.

"I love that you care so much", she whispered in his ear. Luke opened his eyes and took his hands off his face. He turned his head to look at his wife who slowly pulled back, only to kiss him fully on the lips a second later.

"Ew! Do you always have to do that?" William complained immediately, but they just ignored him.

"You're right. Ellie shouldn't be with nannies all the time. Yet helping out isn't going to change that and honestly I still think that we don't have the time to look after her", Lorelai said to Luke.

"You remember that there was a time when you wanted another kid?" Luke asked her.

"Was I delusional?" she asked back.

"Not more than normal", he shook his head and flinched when Eleanor started crying that second.

"We didn't do anything", Sara said immediately and stepped back from the crying baby.

"Well Grandpa Luckey, start working", Lorelai smiled, patted his thigh and got up. "Come on kiddos, let's get you changed for the movie night we will have", Lorelai turned to her kids and went upstairs with them, left Luke alone with his crying granddaughter.

* * *

"Mommy, when will Rory pick up Ellie again? She is annoying me!" Laila groaned an hour later when they were all sitting on Luke and Lorelai's bed and Ellie started to cry every five minutes.

"Yeah, I can't hear a thing because of the noise she makes. Can't we lock her in the guestroom?" William suggested.

"If we would lock you into the guestroom every time you're annoying us with your noise then it would be your room", Luke grumbled and got of the bed with Ellie, bouncing her up and down to calm her. It wasn't working though.

"Honey, why don't you hand her over? I think the bouncing is making her sick", Lorelai said to Luke and held her arms out to take the baby.

"Always worked with these three", Luke shrugged and handed her Eleanor.

"They were used to it because their mother is always bouncing. Rory is more subdued, so Ellie isn't used to it", Lorelai said and cradled her granddaughter against her chest. "See girly, isn't that nice snuggling a little with mom number two?", she asked the baby who was slowly calming down.

"My arms are hurting", Luke complained and shook his arms. He had been carrying around Ellie for hours. "I'm getting old", he added.

"Yup, thank your kids for being such troublemakers, otherwise we probably would still be in training", Lorelai said and rubbed up and down Ellie's back.

"Thank you. It's appreciated", Luke said to his kids but they just looked confused and then turned their attention back to the screen.

"You think she's hungry?" Luke asked Lorelai when the baby kept fussing.

"I don't think so. You fed her an hour ago", Lorelai replied.

"I still can't believe they've been using this formula crap right from the beginning. She should really have nursed her, maybe she wouldn't be so cranky then", Luke said annoyed.

"I guess your mother skipped breast-feeding totally then", Lorelai dead-panned. "And Rory just wasn't too fond of leaking while she was working. And she was all day in the news office or on interviews anyway. When should she have nursed her?"

"She could have stayed at home for a while", Luke shrugged.

"I didn't stay at home that long".

"Long enough. And before you could go back full-time you were pregnant again", he reminded her.

"So what? Logan should knock her up again?"

"Jeez, don't talk like that! I don't want to think about them… doing… it" Luke said and gestured wildly.

"All I am saying is that little Ellie here, as precious as she is, wasn't planned at all, while we had been trying for little William here", she said and pinched William's toe.

"Mommy stop that! And you can talk normally daddy. We know all about this baby stuff", the boy shrugged.

"What?" Luke said a bit too loud and Eleanor started bawling again.

"There was this book in kindergarten where it says that the dad sticks his penis into the mom and when they like each other a lot then they make a baby which comes out of the mom after a while", William explained. "Didn't you know?" he asked Luke when he saw his father's shocked face.

"Did we sign anything that said it's ok for them to have sex-ed in kindergarten?" Luke asked Lorelai, his eyes still huge and his mouth hanging open.

"You didn't, I did. Thought it would get us out of a lot of uncomfortable questions when Rory got pregnant. And these books are really cute and child-friendly", Lorelai enlightened him.

"He knows about sex!" Luke exclaimed and pointed at William.

"He knows about how babies are created, he doesn't know the name for it, and please stop saying the s-word, before he will get the whole picture sooner than we would like and you can't look him in the eye anymore until he's 30."

"Jeez", Luke just muttered and shook his head again, then rubbed over Ellie's back, trying to sooth her while Lorelai was bouncing her up and down now. "I thought she would get sick?" he asked pointedly.

"She has to get used to it at some point", Lorelai grinned and kept bouncing.

* * *

"Oh no" Luke groaned in the middle of the night when he heard Ellie's crying through the baby monitor. Slowly he sat up in bed and glanced at the clock. 03.47h it said and he groaned again when he realized that he had only slept half an hour since he had rocked the baby to sleep the last time. He switched off the baby monitor then and glanced at Lorelai who was still asleep. She had helped him the first three times Ellie had woken up, but slept through the last two. He got out of bed and made is way downstairs into the guestroom where they had placed the crib so she wouldn't wake up the kids.

"Hey kiddo, why aren't you sleeping? You must be tired ", he said when he entered the room and switched on the lamp on the nightstand. It wasn't as bright as the normal light in the room and he hoped it would help to make her sleepy again. He picked up the crying baby girl and began walking from one side of the room to the other, but it wasn't helping.

"What did we do when the kids got their teeth? Do you remember?" he asked her and switched her onto her stomach and rocked her from side to side.

"I think we always got them this stuff to rub on their gums, but of course your parents didn't bring that. I wonder if they even know about that. Maybe the nanny should have left notes for them and for us so we know what to do with you", he said to her and yawned.

"Let's try the wet washcloth thing", Lorelai said when she suddenly entered the room. "It might not be as magical as the medicine we had for the three monsters, but it might help a bit. That's what I did with Rory", she said and went into the bathroom, wetted a washcloth and handed it to Luke when she came back out. He offered it to Ellie and she grabbed it and started to chew on it immediately.

"I thought you were asleep. Did I wake you?" he asked her softly when Ellie finally quieted down, content for the moment with her washcloth.

"No, but I rolled over and you weren't in bed so I woke up and then guessed that you must be down here", Lorelai replied and sat down on the bed.

"Yeah for the sixth time", he sighed and sat down beside her.

"Poor thing", she said sympathetically and stroked over his hair which were sticking out.

"Hey when we read all these baby books back when you were pregnant with Will wasn't there something in there about calamine tea? Rub it on the gums or something?", he asked her suddenly.

"Yeah, could be", she shrugged.

"Could you make some? She needs to drink something anyway, she's a bit warm", he asked Lorelai and she nodded, gave them both a kiss on the head and walked into the kitchen. She heated the water and made the tea, then filled it into a bottle and ran cold water over it until it had cooled down enough for Ellie to drink it. With the bottle and a glass of water for Luke she went back into the guestroom and found Luke lying on the bed, Ellie on his chest.

"Here you go", she smiled at the picture, took the washcloth from her granddaughter and handed her the bottle. She waited until Ellie had drunk enough and then wetted the washcloth with the tea and massaged Eleanor's gums with it. The baby seemed to like it and Luke smiled gratefully at her.

"Thank you", he said and gave her a peck on the lips.

"We're a good team. We're even together in the dog house", she smiled softly looking around her. She lay down beside him and snuggled up to him. It took a few more minutes and they were all asleep- until Ellie woke up screaming again two hours later.

**TBC**


	10. Stunned

_**Ok, important AN**_: **First:** Sorry I didn't update for so long, but I couldn't get myself to write this chapter, had second and even third thoughts about it. But it had to be done in order to get the story to the point where I want it. I promise you it will all make sense and not everything is the way it might look at the moment.

**second:** There were some comments about Luke's opinion towards Rory. Please keep in mind that Luke's opinion isn't necessarly my own. I just always thought that Luke is a very traditional guy sometimes and I guess he wouldn't do well with all kinds of nannies. I don't wanna say too much, but remember when you read this that Rory didn't have a chance to speak up yet in this context in this story, so maybe wait until she makes her point of view clear.

**third:** Please also note that **this chapter** has to get an **M-rating**. I guess you will know why when you read it.

**l****ast but not least:** I am really curious about your reviews, can't wait for them, although I guess they will be confused or angry... thank god you don't know my address. And no, nobody will die! At least I don't think so...

* * *

**Chapter 10: Stunned**

It was Monday. No, not the Monday after the Saturday Elli was dropped off, but the Monday about two weeks later. And Elli was still at the Danes' house.

So it was another Monday morning where Luke and Lorelai were not only looking after their three own kids, but after their granddaughter as well.

"Open up, sweetie", Lorelai smiled at her granddaughter, who was sitting in one of the twins old highchair, washed and diapered already and dressed in a pair of jeans and a pink sweater with Bambi on it. The baby opened her mouth and immediately swallowed the porridge Lorelai was feeding her. Lorelai could never understand why babies seemed to like that stuff, but William, Sara and Laila had eaten it as well. "That's my girl", Lorelai smiled at Elli and earned herself a wide smile, with porridge drooling out of the baby's mouth.

"Mommy, can you do my hair?" Laila asked when she came into the kitchen with a hairbrush in her hands. She was dressed as well, but her curls were still a mess. Luke and Lorelai had fallen into a new routine again. Luke would get up in the early morning and get Elli ready, who was just as an early riser as her grandfather. He would bathe her and dress her and have a little playtime with her. He would make coffee and get breakfast ready for the rest of the family, before he woke Lorelai up, handed her the baby and then woke up the other three kids just before he left for the diner. Lorelai always lay their clothes out in the evening before, so Laila, Sara and William could get dressed by themselves and Lorelai could take a shower, while Elli would wait for her in her bouncy-seat.

She always had breakfast with her kids and then feed Elli while the other three got ready for school or kindergarten and they would leave around half past seven. She would drop of William and the twins and take Elli to the Inn with her, where the little girl would nap from ten to twelve.

By the time she reached the diner for lunch around one, Luke had already picked up the twins and William and they would all eat together. After lunch Elli stayed with Luke and Lorelai drove the twins to their ballet lessons and William to soccer practice and on days they were off Emily would look after them, just as before Elli had come over.

Luke would pick them up afterwards and go home with them, control William's homework and keep the twins and Elli entertained. He would cook and by the time dinner was ready Lorelai was home from the Inn. They would eat, watch TV, get the kids ready for bed, have a little cuddle time with the kids and when Elli was asleep for themselves sometimes and then they would fall asleep completely exhausted. It had been the same thing every day for two weeks now.

"Yeah, sure princess. Elli is nearly done and then I can do your hair. You want a pony tail today?" Lorelai asked and hoped that Laila would accept that, because it was the easiest thing to do- and the fastest.

"No, I want pigtails. Plaited ones", the girl decided.

"Ok, we can do that", Lorelai sighed and fed Elli the last spoon of her porridge. She used a napkin to wipe her mouth and took Elli out of the chair and placed her on a blanket in the living-room before she sat down on the couch and turned her attention back to her daughter, who had followed her.

"Hand me the brush my lady", she smiled at Laila.

"But pay attention it won't hurt", Laila requested.

"I will. But when your hair is tangled up it will always hurt a bit", Lorelai replied and started to comb her daughters curls.

"Ow! Mommy!", Laila complained after a few seconds.

"Sorry. But who wants to be pretty has to suffer, old saying", Lorelai smiled. Elli obviously agreed, because she kicked her legs and gurgled excitedly. "Yeah, you know that already, huh Ellie?", Lorelai smiled at the baby.

"Mommy?" Laila asked and turned her head in her mother's direction.

"Mmh?" Lorelai made and turned her head back around.

"Has Ellie moved in now?" she asked.

"No, she is only staying here for a while".

"For how long?"

"Just until Rory or Logan get back, you know that", Lorelai replied and wrinkled her forehead. The question seemed off for Laila somehow.

"But Rory said she would be back two weeks ago and she is not. She always calls and says she would come back and then she doesn't", Laila insisted.

"You're right, hon'. But I can't change that. Either Rory or Logan will come back at one point or the other and then Ellie will go home with them again".

"I think Elli misses them", Laila shrugged. "And I think Rory should have picked her up when she said the first time. When you lie one time people are never going to believe you ever again", she said and nodded her head. Lorelai smiled, because she knew that Luke had told her that.

"You're right hon. But Elli won't remember that Rory didn't come back when she said she would come back. She is still too small to understand that," Lorelai said and Laila thought about that for a minute. "Ok, you're done princess", Lorelai said then when she had finished the pigtails.

"Mommy?" Laila said again and turned around to face her mother.

"Yeah?"

"Did we live with grandma and grandpa when we were still too small to remember?"

"Oh no, honey", Lorelai said and pulled her daughter on her lap. "You always lived with your daddy and me. Your grandma and grandpa sometimes looked after you, just like they do now, but we always picked you up in the evening", Lorelai assured her.

"Ok", Laila said. "Because I would have missed you", she stated.

"I would have missed you too, baby", Lorelai smiled and hugged her daughter to her.

"Doesn't Rory miss Elli?" Laila asked against her mother's shoulder.

"I bet she does. But she has to work", Lorelai tried to defend Rory, although she didn't really understand her daughter either. But Laila didn't need to know that.

Rory had called the Monday she should have picked up her daughter and had told them that she would need a day or two more, because she had gotten another job in the process. She would call when she knew more. A few days had passed then without another word from Rory and when she had called next she had been in London, doing some research for the article. Luke had yelled at her on the phone until she had just hung up on him and then called Lorelai at the Inn the next day.

Lorelai had told her that she understood that she liked working again, but that this was not what they had agreed on. Rory had replied that she was sure they would be able to handle Elli and that she would be back as soon as possible. And Logan would be back in a week or two anyway. From then on she had called at least once a day and every time Luke got her on the phone the situation had escalated more and more. At the moment they weren't talking at all and Lorelai was dreading the day Rory would come and pick up Ellie because she knew that would get ugly. Not only would Luke tell her what he thought of such a behavior, but she just had to tell Rory as well, what she was really thinking about this behavior. She had tried it over the phone already, telling her that they didn't have the time to look after a baby, but Rory had said they should call the nanny, they would pay for it.

"Mommy! William hit me again!" Sara cried and burst into the living-room, startling all three of them, causing Ellie to cry as well.

"Why? What did you do?" Lorelai asked, set Laila on the floor and picked up Ellie to soothe her.

"I didn't do anything! Why do you always think I did something?" Sara yelled and sobbed at the same time.

"I don't always think you did something. You just know that William is a bit on the edge since he's in school and you love to tease him until he snaps", Lorelai said and reached out with one arm to hug her daughter.

"That's not true!", Sara cried. Lorelai decided to let this case rest for the moment.

"Where does it hurt?" she asked instead.

"Here", Sara said and pointed to the side of her head. "he threw one of his cars at me", she reported. Lorelai stroked carefully over the spot and felt that there really a bump was forming.

"Poor baby", she cooed and kissed the spot. "There. Better?" She asked her.

"A bit", Sara sniffed.

"Ok, then let's go, otherwise Will will be late for school again and mommy will really be in trouble this time", she said and placed another kiss on her daughter's head. "Here you look after Elli and I get 

your brother. Oh and put your shoes on", she told the girls, placed Elli on the blanket again and hurried upstairs.

"William, we have to leave", she told him when she opened the door to his room. It was a mess. All his toys were lying on the floor, some of his school stuff in between.

"William! What happened in here?" she asked, but he just shrugged and didn't really look at her.

"Ok, but you will have time to clean that up later anyway, because you won't go to soccer practice today. I guess you know why", she told him and he looked up.

"Fine! I don't wanna go anyway", he replied then, a stubborn look on his face.

"Good. And now go downstairs and put your shoes on. We're leaving", she ordered and he got up and stomped past her, down the stairs. Lorelai took a deep breath and then closed the door. This was getting worse every day. It seemed like all William did was yelling, destroying things or hitting his sisters. One couldn't talk to him anymore, because he didn't talk back or started to yell. She still had to talk to Lulu, but so far neither she nor Luke had found the time to, because they were so busy with working Ellie into their routines for now. Maybe she should really take Rory up to her nanny offer for at least a day, so she and Luke could talk to Lulu about William. She had to talk to him about it this evening, before the situation would get even worse. She was really worried about William.

* * *

"Hey hon'. No dinner today?" Lorelai asked when she walked into the kitchen the same evening. She found Luke slumped on a chair, a look of despair and horror on his face while he bounced Ellie absentmindedly up and down on his knees.

"William broke Barney's leg today", Luke said and looked up. Lorelai was sure she could see tears in his eyes and felt like Luke had punched her right in the gut.

"What? Barney? His guinea-pig Barney? The one he feeds every day and loves with all of his heart?" she asked wide eyed.

"Yeah. Emily called me today. William was completely out of control and kept throwing things at her and the twins. So I left the diner earlier and send her home. I went upstairs and told him to stop this immediately. It seemed to be ok. Later I send Sara up to bring the guinea-pigs some left- over from the carrot sticks. Few seconds later I heard her scream, followed by the screams of pain from the pig. It was awful. I ran upstairs, Sara was screaming, the pig as well and William was starring shocked at the both of them, before he began to scream and cry as well, saying he didn't want that. I took the pet, rushed over to the vet, leaving the four here because Elli was sleeping. He said in general he would have to euthanize him, but I then he x-rayed and decided to try to heal it. So the pig has a mini cast now and is still at the vets, for he pain meds and observation. If he eats we can pick him up tomorrow. If he doesn't he will have to put him out of his misery", Luke told her slowly.

"Oh my god", Lorelai said shocked and had to sit down. She took the chair next to Luke and grabbed his hand. She felt like crying.

"What is wrong with him Luke?", she asked, her voice breaking.

"I don't know. Sara said he didn't want her to give them the food. Meeko stayed with William, but Barney walked over to her when he smelled the food. She said William got angry and hit her first and then kicked the guinea-pig. He is just… he looked so shocked about what he had done when I went up there. Since then he lies crying on his bed, but refuses to speak to me", Luke said.

"he is just… so angry all the time. It scares me Luke", she replied and wiped a tear away with her free hand.

"I know. I feel the same way, " he said and gave her hand a squeeze. "But we have to eat something anyway. Why don't you go up and look after him and the twins, while I make us some sandwiches?" he asked and stood up slowly.

"Okay", she nodded and took Ellie from him. "You know it might be unfair, but at right at this moment I am really hating Rory. If she would have picked up Ellie when she said we would have had the time already to take care of William's school problems", she said and took the girl.

"You're right. It's not fair. We could have gotten a sitter for an afternoon. We just forgot and were to stressed to deal with it. We let William down. We promised him to take care of it and then didn't. Yet, I do feel the same way about Rory. I am losing more respect for her every day she doesn't show up here to pick up her daughter," Luke said.

William was still on his bed when Lorelai entered his room and Meeko was locked in his cage for once. William refused to look at her and so Lorelai only told him that he had to be downstairs in five minutes for dinner and hoped he would show up. Sara and Laila were both freaked out by the events of the afternoon and couldn't stop talking about how horrible Barney's screams had been and that William was stupid and cruel for kicking him. While they babbled Lorelai also got to know that William had hit and punched his sister's far more often these last weeks than she knew. They were listing all the times when he had hurt them in any way and Lorelai saw a pattern: It was getting worse with each day and he seemed to not only hit them more often but to get crueler with each time. First he just pinched them, the slapped then. Then he seemed to kick them and go for the most painful spots every time. He twisted their arms, threatened to break their noses, kicked them in the stomach, threw his toys after his sisters. Most of the time he had missed his aim somehow, or they just slapped him back so Lorelai and Luke didn't know about it. Only when he really hurt them they came running to their parents. What was happening with her son?

* * *

They had just sat down in the dining-room when the doorbell rang. William had really joined, although he was still staring at the floor and not talking to anyone. With a groan Luke got up and opened the door, only to find Logan.

"Logan", he said and sounded everything but friendly.

"Luke, hi. I'm sorry I stop by so late, but I couldn't get my phone to work in china and only when I came back to an empty house today I learned that Rory still isn't back and Ellie is still here. I am SO sorry man", he said.

"I am really not in the mood today to deal with any of it. We will talk about this, you can be damn sure about that, but not today. Just get your daughter and leave", Luke said, turned around and 

walked back into the kitchen. Logan followed him, thrown off by the strange mood Luke was in. he seemed angry, but that had been to expect, but he also looked so incredibly sad that Logan had the uneasy feeling that something was terribly wrong.

"Hi everyone", he greeted the rest of the family. Lorelai just handed him Ellie, William ignored him and Sara and Laila were so deep in conversation they didn't even notice he was there.

"Her stuff is upstairs in our bedroom", Luke said and walked out of the room.

"What happened?" Logan asked Lorelai while he rocked his daughter and pressed kissed to her chubby cheeks.

"Nothing", Lorelai shook her head, but he knew that she was lying.

"William tried to kill Barney today", Sara who had seen him now, said though.

"What?" he blinked surprised.

"William tried to kill…" Sara started again, but William interrupted her by yelling

"I did not!"

"William!", Lorelai immediately said.

"He kicked him", Laila said quietly and hid behind her sister when William faced her, his eyes shooting daggers at her.

"Here is her stuff", Luke said when he re-entered the room and held the bag out to Logan, who was focused on William though.

"Will is that true?" Logan asked his little friend confused. He couldn't believe that William would do something like this. He was always such a happy and caring little boy.

"No!" he yelled at Logan.

"Don't lie, Will. It's true. Will kicked the pig and we don't know yet if it will make it", Lorelai said quietly.

"That's not true! You the one who is lying! I'm going to kill you, you stupid whore!", William scream, jumped of the chair and attacked Lorelai with both hands. First she shielded her face, but then she grabbed his arms and held him, but he wasn't done. " I hate you! You bitch! You're a stupid whore! Everybody says so! They all hate you. They hate you all. I hate you all, because you're a fucking whore", he yelled, completely came unglued.

They all just stared at him and even Luke was too shocked to help his wife and pull William away at first. Lorelai kept a hold on his arms and stared at him as well. They were too stunned and shocked to react.

**Please review**

**TBC**


	11. Midnight confession

Thank you so much for all the reviews. Because of some slight pressure (looking into FF direction) I wrote the next chapter last evening already. I hope you like it and review.

* * *

**Chapter 11: Midnight confession**

Previously:

"_That's not true! You the one who is lying! I'm going to kill you, you stupid whore!", William screamed, jumped of the chair and attacked Lorelai with both hands. First she shielded her face, but then she grabbed his arms and held him, but he wasn't done. " I hate you! You bitch! You're a stupid whore! Everybody says so! They all hate you. They hate you all. I hate you all, because you're a fucking whore", he yelled, completely came unglued._

_They all just stared at him and even Luke was too shocked to help his wife and pull William away at first. Lorelai kept a hold on his arms and stared at him as well. __They were too stunned and shocked to react._

Understandably it was Logan who reacted first. Quickly but carefully he placed Ellie in the bouncy-chair on the floor and then rushed over to Lorelai and William. William was still screaming insults at his mother repeating the same things over and over. Logan grabbed him from behind and pressed his arms down. He was surprised how strong William was and actually had trouble to keep him under control. The boy seemed to have so much anger in him that he just didn't care anymore. He kicked and Logan pulled him back from Lorelai. Then William seemed to direct his aggressions against Logan and tried to bite him, kick him and get out of his grasp, but Logan wouldn't let him go.

Lorelai was so shocked she was still not reacting in any way and wasn't aware that tears were running down her cheeks and she had a bruise on her jaw, where William's fist had hit her the first time unshielded.

Finally Luke was able to move again and help Logan. William had dropped to the floor meanwhile, kicked his legs, didn't notice that he was hitting with his head against the hard wood floor again and again in his blind state of fury. Logan was struggling silently with the screaming boy, doubting that William would hear him.

Luke took over and Logan stepped back, picked up Ellie protectively. Instead of pushing him down on the floor Luke did the opposite and picked William up, pressed him against his own body. He pressed his son's head to his shoulder with one arm and kept his legs pressed to one of his thighs with the other.

"William!" he said loudly, trying to get heard over his son's screamed insults towards Lorelai. He looked briefly over his shoulder to check if Lorelai was ok and then carried William out of the dining- room. He hurried with his son through the kitchen and then out on the porch. The sun was setting and it looked peaceful. He didn't know why he had gone outside, but somehow he hoped that he would get William better under control in the backyard. He sat down on the swing with William still pressed tightly against him.

"William", he said again, but quieter this time. "Sh, it's ok. It's okay", he tried to soothe him and after a while William stopped struggling against his father and started to cry uncontrollably.

"Sh, its ok Will. It will be fine. Barney will be alright. Everything's gonna be alright", he whispered, loosened his grip a bit on stroked over his hair.

Luke looked up when he heard the door open and close and saw Lorelai coming around the corner towards him. She sat down next to them and stroked over William's back.

She wasn't really angry at him for what he had said. She was shocked and worried about him, but she wasn't angry. From the first second on when she had registered what he said to her she knew that he could impossibly come up with something like that by himself. They all hate you, he had 

yelled and she knew that William had to talk about something that he had to endure at school. If she thought him being the new kid in class was his only problem she had obviously been wrong.

"Mommy", William whimpered and a look of understanding passed between Luke and Lorelai before Luke handed the boy over. Lorelai pulled William on her lap and leaned back against the swing. She tried to soothe him, telling him that it was okay and that everything would be just fine, but it seemed now that the dam was broken William couldn't stop crying anymore.

It saddened her that he had kept all of this in for so long and nobody had been able to get him to open up. She wondered what he would reveal once he would start talking about what happened at school and dreaded it at the same time.

Luke wrapped one arm around her shoulder and pulled her a bit more towards him. Lorelai leaned against him, while she kept placing kisses on William's hair.

They didn't know how long they had been outside, none of them felt the coldness or realized that it was dark already when William finally quieted because he had fallen asleep.

A while before his crying had diminished to soft whimpers and finally to heart-breaking sobs. He didn't once lift his head off his mother's shoulder, but instead buried his face in her neck, seemed to be soothed by the familiar scent of her.

"Why didn't we do anything Lorelai?", Luke asked and took a shaky breath. "We should have done something no matter how busy we were".

"I know", she whispered back and hugged William even tighter.

"I think we should go inside and tuck him in", Luke then said and got up. Lorelai followed him and carried William and it didn't matter that he pretty heavy already, she just couldn't let go of him.

Logan met them in the hallway, carrying a sleeping Ellie in her car-seat.

"Is he ok?" he asked worriedly.

"Not really. We still don't know what happened. He cried himself to sleep", Luke whispered.

"Ok, then I'm gonna get going. Laila and Sara are in bed and asleep already. I didn't know how long you would take", he said.

"It's ok. Thank you", Lorelai replied.

"No thank you for everything. But I guess we will have this talk another time. Keep me updated on William please. And if they hurt him in any way then call me before you go and beat those little punks up", he said to Luke.

"I will", Luke nodded. They watched Logan and Ellie leave and then walked upstairs.

"I think we should let him sleep in our bed tonight", Lorelai said and turned towards their bedroom.

"I agree. We should change him though. He is all sweaty from his temper tantrum. I will get his pjs", Luke agree and went into William's room.

Lorelai carried William into their bedroom and lay him slowly down on the bed, careful not to wake him. William was dead to the world though. She went into the bathroom and wetted a washcloth with warm water and put a little bit of soap on it. She wiped the tear streaks off his face and dried it with the towel she had brought. She noticed that his forehead was wrinkled in his sleep, his eyebrows close together, his lips pressed tightly together. He didn't look relaxed. For how long had he been sleeping this way?

She placed a soft kiss on his cheek and unbuttoned the shirt he wore, threw it in the direction of the laundry basket and then lifted his head to get him out of the T-shirt he wore.

When she had pulled the shirt over his head and looked down at his chest she gasped and took a step back. She pressed a hand to her mouth to keep herself from screaming out.

"Got him the blue one", Luke said quietly when he came into the room just at that moment.

"Luke look at this", she said in a loud whisper and pointed to William.

"Oh my god", Luke said when he saw the several bruises William had all over his chest. Some were more yellow already, others still dark blue. Carefully Luke lifted him up and looked at William's back, which looked just as bad.

"That looks like a footprint", Lorelai said and pointed to one large bruise on William's lower-back.

"Yeah and it's a small footprint. Some of these little jerks are beating up our son !", Luke said and his face was red with anger in a mere second.

"But why? William never had any problems. Not in pre-school or kindergarten. He always got along fine with other kids. Why is he suddenly being bullied?" Lorelai asked and pulled William's jeans off. His legs weren't as badly bruised as his chest and his back, but on his shins one could see some bruises as well. Lorelai had mistaken the bruises on his shins for normal soccer bruises when he had walked around in shorts, but now with his chest and his back looking that way, it was clear that they weren't.

"I swear to god, I'm going to kill these little punks!" Luke gritted through his teeth.

"I think this has to do with me", Lorelai said suddenly and looked up at Luke with a sudden realization.

"With you?" he asked confused.

"Remember what he said. He said that I was a fucking whore and that everybody would say so and hate me. Who is everybody Luke? I don't think six year olds get the sudden idea that one of the moms is a whore and beat up her kid. This, Luke, is no bullying. This is agitating a kid against another kid. I don't know who he or she is and I certainly don't know what I have done, but I don't think that William would ever call me a whore, no matter how angry he is at me, if it isn't that someone told him something about me".

"That is crazy", Luke said and tried to digest this.

"I know. But it's the only thing that makes sense", she said. "Why didn't he talk to us? He knows he can always come to us. Doesn't he trust us at all?" Lorelai asked then.

"I don't know, but it doesn't look good for us at the moment. I will get some of the sports gel from the fridge. It will help the bruises to heal better", Luke replied and hurried downstairs again.

Lorelai stroked with the fingertip of her index-finger over his back and softly traced the outline of the footprint.

"Why didn't you tell us?" she whispered and couldn't hold the tears in anymore. They dripped on her hand and his back and she pressed her hand to her mouth again, because she didn't want to wake him up.

* * *

"Oh Lorelai", Luke said when he found her sitting crying next to their son when he came back. Lorelai didn't say anything, she just let him take her in his arms and hold her for a while.

"We should get him dressed", Lorelai said when she pulled back after a while and Luke nodded, kissed her softly. Luke opened the gel and then applied some to William's bruises before Lorelai 

dressed the boy in his pajama. Luke handed Lorelai the gel as well and she applied some to her chin, so she wouldn't have a blue bruise there in the morning.

Before they both went to the bathroom to get changed Luke placed his son in the middle of the bed. Quietly they brushed their teeth and changed before they walked hand in hand back into the bedroom in got in on their respective sides of the bed. They both lay down close to William and closed their eyes.

* * *

Around midnight Lorelai heard William whimper in his sleep. She hadn't been able to sleep yet and by the sound of his breathing neither had Luke. They hadn't talked though because they both needed time to think about what had happened.

Lorelai couldn't get over the fact that William was covered with bruises and they hadn't noticed and he hadn't said anything. She had questioned them as parents, but what stunned her was that William not only didn't open up to them, but that he didn't say a word to anybody else. He hadn't talked to Emily or Richard, to his hero Logan or his friend Davey. All of them would have told her, so she was sure that none of them knew. Maybe they had threatened him? Maybe he had been too scared to talk to anyone?

Or maybe, and that was the thought that kept her awake, maybe he had tried to tell them. Maybe he had wanted to say something with his behavior. Maybe they should have listened more closely when he had refused to go to school. Maybe they hadn't heard what he had said because of a hundred smaller and less important things.

Luke's thoughts went into a slightly different direction. Of course he was worried as well, that William hadn't said anything, but he just couldn't get out of his head what William had actually said. He had called his mother a whore and that meant that someone else had called her a whore. If that was the word in William's class then Luke wasn't surprised that William was getting beat up by the others. Kids that age were cruel and honest and if they thought that this was true, or they had found a victim once then there were no boundaries until someone made some.

However, someone was telling others bad things about his wife and his kids and Luke couldn't let that happen. He would find that kid who had beat up William and he would find the person responsible for this and when he had found him or her he would make sure that the person would never again insult one member of his family. He was the husband and the father, it was his job to protect them and he had failed miserably. That wouldn't happen again.

"Shh", Lorelai made and stroked up and down William's back to soothe him. He whimpered again and then awoke with a gasp.

"It's ok, Will. We're here", Luke said, because he saw when William opened his eyes, because the boy was lying on his side facing him.

"Daddy?" he asked sleepily and immediately scooted closer to Luke and snuggled up to him. Luke rolled onto his back and pulled William on top of him so it was more comfortable. Lorelai took the opportunity to snuggle up to Luke's side and stroke over William's back again.

"Go back to sleep honey", Lorelai told him and kissed his cheek.

"Mommy I'm sorry I hit you", William replied though and turned his head to face her. Both Luke and Lorelai knew that William wouldn't go back to sleep that easily now.

"I accept your apology Will, but you have to tell me who said such horrible things to you", she replied and waited. William didn't reply though.

"Will, you have to tell us exactly what happens at school so we can help you", Luke insisted.

"I don't wanna go back to school", William replied.

"William, you have to go to school. But we will make sure that nothing will happen to you, but in order for us to do that you have o tell us what happened".

"Doug is telling everyone that you're a whore", William said slowly.

"Why is he saying that?" Luke asked.

"I don't know. But he says that mommy's a whore because she got pregnant when she was sixteen. He also says that Rory is a bastard and that you are not our daddy. Nobody knows who our daddy is because mommy's sleeping around, stealing other woman's men. And Rory does that also. He told the others that they should better stay away from me because mommy would steal their daddies and have their babies", William finally said.

"William, you know that none of this is true", Luke said appalled.

"I know. I told them that Doug lies. I told Doug to stop saying such mean things about mommy, but then he hit me and I hit him back and Mrs. Gleason saw that I got detention and he got nothing. And then he brought his older cousin the next day and they beat me up in the break and nobody helped me because they all think mommy's a whore", William said and started to cry.

"But what about your friends from soccer or kindergarten? Didn't they help you?" Lorelai asked.

"They don't have the break the same time we do. They start when we're finished," he sniffed.

"Will, you should have told us", Luke said.

"I did! I told you I didn't start the fight at school, but you said one doesn't fight, so I didn't fight anymore and then they beat me up", he replied and sounded desperate.

"Why didn't you tell us that they beat you up even though you didn't do anything?" Lorelai questioned further.

"I told you I don't want to school anymore and you said you would talk to Lulu. You promised that you would tell her to send me to the other class. But you lied, you didn't talk to her", he cried.

"William we're really sorry. We were busy and we didn't know that school was that horrible. We didn't know about Doug or the things he says or does", Luke tried to explain.

"I told you I hate school", William insisted.

"I know and we believe you. But you know most kids just hate school because they have to learn there and can't play anymore all day long. We really didn't know William. But we will help you know. First thing tomorrow we will speak with Lulu and Doug", Lorelai said.

"No! Not with Doug! Daddy don't let mommy talk to Doug! Maybe he beats her up too!" William exclaimed horrified.

"Don't worry. I will protect your mommy and I will protect you. No one will beat you up again or say such horrible things about any of us. I will make sure of that. And now sleep Will. It's really late".

"'kay", Will said and lay his head back down on his father's chest and Lorelai and Luke lay back down as well. For about ten minutes there was silence, but then William spoke up timidly.

"Mommy?" he whispered in the dark.

"Yes honey?" she replied.

"Will Barney be ok? I didn't want to hurt him", he said.

"I don't know, but I hope so", Lorelai replied honestly. William was quiet for some minutes.

"Mommy?" he whispered again.

"Will?"

"Do you still love me although I said you're a whore and hit you?" he asked worriedly.

"Of course I still love you, baby", she replied and stroked over his hair.

"Still to the moon and back?"

"Of course! And even farther", she said and kissed his cheek, rubbed his back until he finally fell asleep with a heavy sigh. Neither Luke nor Lorelai found sleep that night though, too much had happened. They both just clung to each other and to William, to protect him while he slept.

**TBC**


	12. The heir and a camel

So, now I will finally reveal why this story is called "the heir of silence"… hope you like it!

* * *

**Chapter 12: The heir… and a camel**

„I'm gonna get up and hurry to the diner", Luke whispered at five o'clock the next morning. Both Luke and Lorelai were still awake, too shaken from the events of the previous night.

"You're coming to school with me?" Lorelai whispered back and opened her eyes and could make him out sitting up on his side of the bed.

"Sure, I just have to tell Cesar that I won't be in today and take the deliveries. The bread-guy is still refusing to take anyone's signature but mine".

"OK. I'm thinking about calling my mother and asking her to look after Will. I don't want him to go back into that class, not even for a minute, but I don't want to have him with us when we talk to Lulu either", Lorelai said in a whisper.

"I guess that would be better. When do you want to go to school? Lulu has class in the morning".

"Then she will just have to take the time. Honestly I don't care if she has class Luke. She should have looked after Will and she didn't. Only because she violated the obligatory supervision this could have happened", Lorelai replied and got so agitated that she spoke in louder and made William squirm in his sleep. Immediately she stroked over his hair to calm him and lull him back into his dreamland. It was too early for him to wake up. Luke looked at Lorelai and saw her soothing William when he got up and walked to her side of the bed and sat down next her.

"I know how you're feeling and I am still so mad the only color I can see is fire-red, which makes me feel like El torro. But Lorelai Lulu has over 400 kids in her school and she can't look out for every kid", he started, but Lorelai turned around to face him and interrupted him.

"If she is not capable to do her job then maybe she should quit and be a normal teacher again. I am not going to accept this Luke. They beat up our son", she said in a loud whisper.

"Lorelai, I know! And if I ever meet these punks I will beat the crap out of them. But that's exactly why I need you to be the calm one. You need to hold me back otherwise I will just freak out and tear that fucking school apart", Luke said and his voice made it clear for the first time how furious he really felt. Lorelai took his hand in hers and placed a kiss on his knuckles, suddenly strangely soothed by his obvious anger.

"Ok," she just nodded.

"I'm gonna shower", he said sighing deeply, kissed her and went into the bathroom. Lorelai turned back around and snuggled back into her pillow. William was still asleep beside her and shifted towards her when he felt her presence. She hugged him to her and placed a kiss on his forehead before she closed her eyes again, knowing that sleep wouldn't come anymore.

* * *

Shortly after seven Lorelai got out of bed, grabbed her bathing- robe from the hook on the door and made her way downstairs into the kitchen. As always Luke had made her coffee, programming the timer on their fancy coffee-machine before he left for work. She poured herself a cup and sat down at the kitchen counter and opened the newspaper which was spread out on the counter. She flipped through the politics section, ignored the sports pages and went right to the "people" part. She tried to read the article about Tom-kat's newest marital problems, but she couldn't concentrate at all. The pictures from last night kept coming back to her and the bruises on William's body seemed to become bigger every time she thought about it. With a sigh she closed the newspaper again and took a bite of the croissant Luke had left on a plate for her. She wasn't hungry at all, but she had to eat something, otherwise she would freak out even more when they would talk to Lulu.

After she had poured her second cup of coffee she grabbed the phone and dialed her parent's number, knowing they would be up already.

"Emily Gilmore speaking", her mother answered the phone and Lorelai was somehow relieved she had her on the phone already and not one of the maids.

"Hey mom, it's me", she greeted and tried to sound more cheerful than she actually felt.

"Lorelai, you're calling awfully early for your standards. Is everything alright?" Emily asked and saw how Richard lowered his newspaper, suddenly interested in the phone-conversation. He motioned for her to turn the speaker on, and she did.

"Good morning Lorelai. I hope everything is alright", Richard made his presence known.

"Hi dad. Well, uhm, actually it's not", Lorelai admitted.

"What happened?" Richard asked.

"Uhm..", Lorelai wasn't sure how to start. She was suddenly afraid that somehow everything would be her fault in her parent's opinion and she couldn't take that at the moment. " We need you to look after William this morning", she went straight to the point, without explaining too much.

"Is he sick?" Emily wanted to know and Lorelai could tell by her tone that she was sensing something.

"No, not exactly, but he can't go to school today and Luke and I actually have to go to school, so we need you to watch him.. if you don't have any other plans. I know it is really short notice, but a situation… came up and now we have to deal with it", she explained cryptically.

"For god's sake Lorelai, just tell us what happened already!" Emily finally had enough.

"We found out yesterday that the kids in William's class bully him and beat him up.. pretty badly actually. He has bruises everywhere. To top that they tell him that I am a whore and other nice things like that.. Please don't make me repeat it", she begged and felt herself tearing up.

"Why would they do something like that?" Emily shrieked and Richard was obviously speechless.

" I really don't know mom, but William had kind of a break-down yesterday and attacked me before he started crying and it took us a while to calm him. He also had a nightmare and then told me and Luke what happened. When we changed him we saw the bruises all over his chest and his back and…" Lorelai had to stop talking to keep herself from start crying.

"My goodness", Emily said in a toneless voice and sat down on the empty chair next to Richard.

"Who do these little idiots think they are? I will sue their parents! I will take every cent they saved for the college tuition of these fools and pay someone to beat them up", Richard suddenly yelled and slammed his fist on the table.

"Richard!" Emily shrieked.

"Dad! I appreciate your offer but we will handle this. For the moment we will just need you to look after Will, ok?" Lorelai asked, actually touched by her father's outburst.

"Yes, Lorelai, we will be right over", Emily replied and hung up.

"Jeez", Lorelai said and had to smile.

"Who were you talking to?" William, who had just stepped into the kitchen asked his mother.

"Grandpa and grandma. They will be right over and stay with you while your father and I will talk to Mrs. Gleason", Lorelai informed him and slung his arms around him when he hugged her middle and pressed his face into her stomach. "Good morning honey", she said then and played with his hair again.

"Morning", he muttered and yawned. Lorelai lifted him up and groaned because he was so heavy before she sat him down on the kitchen counter and hugged him again. William slung his arms around her neck and his legs around her waist and clung to her.

"I'm really sorry mommy. I know you're not a whore and I love you", he apologized again.

"I'm really relieved you feel that way", she smiled and placed a kiss on his hair. "And I love you, too. So much, my baby. But you have to promise me something", she requested.

"What?" he asked against her shoulder, unwilling to let her go.

"If somebody hurts you, or bullies you or just insults you or someone of our family, you have to tell me or your father. You don't have to be scared, Will, we won't be angry, but you really have to tell us", she said.

"I wasn't scared that you would be angry", he said after a moment of silence.

"Then why didn't you tell us? We would have helped you, honey", she replied and pulled back slightly so she could look at him.

"I didn't want you to know that everyone is talking bad about you. I didn't want you to be sad", William admitted shyly.

"You let them beat you up, because you thought it would make me sad that they say stupid things about me?" Lorelai asked stunned.

"Yes. And you had trouble with Laila and then Ellie came and the fight with Rory made you sad and daddy angry. I don't want you to be sad or angry", he added.

"So you kept quiet?" she asked and William nodded. In that moment the past mistakes of her and Luke's relationship came back to her. When she hadn't told him back then that she had visited Chris after his father had died, when she hadn't told him about being pregnant with the twins and when he hadn't told her about moving in with Nicole, had kept his frustration to himself after the accident. They had hurt each other so often just because they wouldn't speak up, afraid that the other would be angry or sad.

"God, you're the heir of silence", she muttered, placed several kisses on William's forehead and hugged him again. "Promise me that you will always tell us when something is bothering you, Will. In know it might make us sad or angry, but it makes us even more sad and worried when we see that you're unhappy and can't help you".

" I pinky-swear", he nodded and held out his pinky. Lorelai locked her pinky with his and kissed him on the mouth to seal the deal.

"Good. Now want some breakfast before your grandparents get here and make you eat fruit again?" she asked him then.

" I like fruit", he shrugged it off.

"Ok, you traitor then I will eat these chocolate croissants alone", she grinned.

"Noo! Gimme one!" William whined and took the croissant out of her hands.

"Ok, you eat and I will wake up your sisters meanwhile, because they won't stay at home today", she said.

"So I don't have to go back to school?" he asked happily.

"Oh honey, you have to go to school, but I promise you we will make sure that nothing will happen to you, ok?"

"Ok", he muttered and took another bite of his croissant.

* * *

Lorelai walked upstairs and thought for a second about calling Luke and telling him that their son was exactly like them, even making the same mistakes, but then she decided against it because she would see him anyway in some minutes.

She walked into the twins' room, walked through it and opened the window and the blinds, before she went to Laila's bed and tickled her nose with her curls.

"Wakey wakey", she smiled and it didn't take more than a few seconds before the girl stirred and opened her eyes. "Morning princess, time to get up", Lorelai whispered and placed a kiss on her daughter's forehead.

"Ok", Laila muttered and sat up in bed, then yawned widely and stretched before she got out of bed. Laila was always easy to wake up. She was a light sleeper, but she was really easy going in the morning. Now came the tough one though, because Lorelai had to wake Sara and the girl was just as grumpy in the morning as her mother.

Lorelai woke her up the same way, although it took her longer and Sara tried to pull the blanket over her head and muttered something that sounded like "Go away". Lorelai just pulled her out of bed and hugged her for a minute before she put her down and send her off to the bathroom to get ready. She took the blankets and the pillows and put them on the window-sill to air out, because her husband always insisted that this was really important. She picked up Laila's pjs from the floor as well as her underwear and threw them into the hamper by the door. She kicked some dolls out of the way and picked up some stuffed animals before she followed her daughters into the bathroom. While Laila was already brushing her teeth Sara was still getting dressed and muttered incessantly about her stupid clothes and stupid socks and the ugly shirt… Lorelai just pulled the shirt all the way down over her daughter's head and grabbed the brush from the shelf. Sara kept complaining that Lorelai was hurting her, while she pulled her daughter's curls into a pony tail and then sent her to the sink to brush her teeth and waved Laila over so she could make her pigtails.

When they were done Lorelai picked up Sara's clothes and threw them into the hamper with Laila's clothes and then all three went downstairs; Laila skipping happily ahead, Sara grumbling and Lorelai following them. They entered the kitchen, but the twins froze when they saw William. Laila hugged Lorelai's arm and Sara starred at her brother, then marched over to him and slapped him on the arm.

"If you ever hurt mommy again we will beat you up!" she threatened her big brother, who rubbed his arm.

"Sara! I feel honored that you are trying to defend me but you will not hit your brother!" Lorelai lectured her.

"But he hit you last night", the girl protested.

"Yes, and we talked about it. So apologize".

"Sorry", Sara muttered.

"I'm sorry, but I can't hear you".

"Sorry Will", Sara said a tad louder and William just nodded.

"William I guess you have to say something as well?!" Lorelai asked and raised her eyebrows.

"I'm sorry I hit you", he said to his sister and then looked back down to the kitchen counter.

"Ok", the girls shrugged and sat down beside him, waiting for Lorelai to bring them their tea.

"Herbal or peppermint?" Lorelai asked.

"Peppermint!" both girls yelled and Lorelai started the water-heater and grabbed two mugs from the cupboard when the kitchen door flew open.

"We will sue them!" Richard Gilmore declared with a booming voice while Emily nodded when they burst into the kitchen and startled their daughter and their grandchildren.

"Jesus, Mary, Joseph and a camel!" Lorelai exclaimed and dropped the mugs into the sink. "Are you nuts? You scared us half to death!" she said then and put a hand on her chest, right over her heart.

"Good morning", Emily just replied and greeted her grandchildren while Richard was still standing in the same spot.

"Dad, please sit down. We won't sue anyone before breakfast", Lorelai told him and pointed to a chair and was surprised when he obliged and sat down.

"Hey!" William suddenly yelled when Emily lifted his shirt to look at his bruises.

"Mom! Leave him alone and make the girls some tea while I get dressed, ok?" Lorelai said, ruffled through William's hair and went upstairs to get ready for the big talk with Lulu.

**TBC**


	13. Power play

**I'm sad and I really hope that doesn't show in the chapter. I hate it when other people are sad. That makes me sad. I would greet those two but they are not reading, so I can just hope that they are feeling better after their LJ posts.**

**And sorry for all faults in there, still no beta, still no native.**

* * *

**Chapter 13: Power play**

„You'll be good. We're leaving", Luke told William and ruffled through his hair before he shooed the twins out of the kitchen so they would put on their shoes.

"And you don't let anybody hurt mommy", William replied and moved one of the chess figures on the board. Richard had shown him a year ago how to play chess and ever since then grandson and grandfather would play chess whenever they had the opportunity to.

"ok, bye", Luke nodded and gave Richard another nod before he left the kitchen.

The twins had put on their shoes and had their backpacks ready. Emily was straightening Sara's ponytail, but Lorelai was still missing.

"Lorelai? We have to go", Luke yelled up the stairs and a second later Lorelai stumbled down the stairs while trying to put on her shoe at the same time. "One of these days you will break your neck", Luke lectured her when he saw what she was doing.

"Yeah yeah", Lorelai only made and followed them outside. After everyone was buckled up they finally could drop the twins off at kindergarten, before they walked the short distance to William's school.

All the kids were still waiting outside for the bell to ring and school to start. When they saw Luke and Lorelai approaching some of the older kids started whispering and pointing at them and Luke surely didn't like that. When he heard one of the boys giggle he turned around and starred at the poor kid, who was so frightened he nearly started to cry.

"No, you won't kill innocent kids", Lorelai whispered in his ear and took his hand in hers and laced her fingers through his.

"I'm not guaranteeing for anything if this Doug jerk crosses my path", Luke said through gritted teeth and Lorelai patted his back.

"You don't even know how Doug looks like", she smiled.

"And you do?"

"Matter of fact: I do", she nodded and had to keep herself from laughing when she saw Luke's jaw clench in anger.

"Is he out there?" he asked and pointed with his thumb over his shoulder to the kids.

"I'm not telling you", she answered and pulled him farther away from the kids and into the building.

"He is! I know it! I can smell it!" Luke went on.

"How does he smell like?" she actually laughed now.

"Like dirty rat. Soon dead rat", he muttered and Lorelai stopped him and grabbed him by his upper arms and turned him around so he had to look at her.

"You will not kill an eight year old boy, okay? If you meet his parents though and still feel the urge I am not going to stop you. I will even smuggle a rasp into your prison-cell", she smiled. Luke looked at her and was calmed by her ability to smile and have fun even in this situation. It was her way of dealing with it and it kept him grounded and he appreciated it. She really knew how to calm him down. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second, before he gave her a short nod.

"Ok, I'm ready for the talk now", he said a lot calmer and sounded like a sane adult again.

"And remember: If I freak out, just knock me out with something", she reminded him and he gave her hand a squeeze.

They walked slowly to Lulu's office, both dreading the talk that had to be done.. Luke knocked on the door and he actually thought about how to knock. He didn't want to unhinge the door, although that would probably show how he felt. Neither did he want to knock to timidly because then it would sound like they were scared- which they were, but Lulu didn't need to know this. He decided for a casual not too hard knock on the glass, so that it would be louder.

"Come in", they heard Lulu's voice from inside and they opened the door and both stepped in, side by side, still holding hands.

"Luke, Lorelai! Good morning!", Lulu smiled friendly when she saw them. After all they knew each other very well, not only because Kirk was practically living in Luke's Diner.

"Hey Lulu", Lorelai greeted her, but there was an edge in her voice that didn't go unnoticed by Lulu. And Lorelai didn't smile, which was also strange.

"Is something wrong? I hope William is not sick! The chicken pox are going around, but as far as I can remember he already had them", the teacher said and stood behind her desk, looking unsure at the couple in front of her. "Why don't you sit down?" she added, when they both didn't react.

They obliged, but kept holding hands. Lulu took a closer look at Lorelai and saw that she had a small bruise on her chin and she and Luke both looked tired and worried.

"Uhm… what can I do for?" Lulu asked when they remained silent.

"William had a break-down last night", Lorelai started and tried to keep the anger out of her voice. She went on when Luke gently squeezed her hand. "He said that I am a whore and that everybody says so. He attacked me and he nearly killed his pet a few hours before. He hasn't been himself lately and although we asked you to keep an eye on him you obviously didn't. When you stuck William into a class with kids he did not know we went along with it on the condition that William would be okay with it", Lorelai said, but Lulu interrupted her.

"I really doubt that William would freak out only because he is not in class with his friends", she objected and Lorelai's voice got a stoic undertone when she went on.

"Would you let me finish? I am not done yet. We went along with it under the condition that William would be okay with it and at first he was, or at least he tried to be. However lately he changed, a lot. We had no clue what was wrong until last night when we saw that his chest and his back are badly bruised. He even has a foot-print on his back".

Lulu looked at Luke and knew that it was no good sign that he kept looking at his feet and avoided looking at her. Lorelai's calm tone also didn't mean anything good and for a second Lulu got scared. She knew that if Luke would lose his temper he could tear this office apart. She knew Luke wasn't a violent person, but the fights with Taylor sometimes got a little out of hand and everybody knew that once he lost it, he lost it completely.

"He woke up in the middle of the night and told us that a guy named Doug kept insulting me and when William told him to stop telling lies about me he beat him up. Obviously William tried to defend himself and got detention for it. Afterwards Doug brought his cousin during the break and they beat William up nearly daily while they kept spreading rumors about me", Lorelai said and raised her eyebrows as a sign that it was now Lulu's turn.

"I cannot believe this. Doug is a nice kid and his cousin Chris is a shy boy", Lulu started.

"Chris, I guess that's kismet that the guy's a jerk", Luke muttered and looked up for the first time. Lorelai gripped his hand tighter and he knew that her calm demeanor would slip any second and it was time for him to take over.

"We are not here to discuss if this is true or not, we are here to know what you intend to do about it", he said.

"I guess I will have to ask Doug about this", Lulu said and leaned back in her chair, "And then I will call you again and tell you what I decided".

"I don't think you understand us correctly. We are not here to wait until you ask this guy why he did what he did. We told you what happened and we want that William is transferred to te other class immediately. And we want a talk with Doug's parents, you and class-teacher", Luke made his point clear and leaned forward in his chair.

"I cannot do this. Both classes have exactly 28 children and I can't transfer William to the other class. That wouldn't be good for both classes", Lulu replied and mirrored Luke's position. Lorelai watched them and understood that this would be a fruitless conversation. Lulu had understood that for the first time ever she had the upper hand over them and she would use this and if it was only to get Kirk some free pancakes. Shy and good-hearted Lulu had obviously learned a lot these last few years while she had been dealing with the parents of Stars Hollow.

"I don't care about the classes. I only care about my son and I will not accept that he gets terrorized and beaten up at school", Luke said and got louder with every word.

"William isn't exactly the kid that would let others terrorize him", Lulu snorted.

"What are you saying?" Lorelai asked her.

"William has always been a bit of a wild kid and so are his sisters. They are loud and they don't always know how to behave. They talk without being asked, the yell and they tend to have temper tantrums, that's what I am saying".

"I agree with you. We are not the strictest parents and because we are both working all day one or the other thing is a little difficult. But this has nothing to do with that", Lorelai argued.

"Oh I think it does! Kirk is terrified of William ever since he bit him", Lulu went on.

"He was two and Kirk had smeared peanut-butter on his arm!" Luke yelled.

"Sara throws her plate through the diner when she doesn't want to eat what she is served".

"She hasn't done that in years!" Lorelai insisted.

"And Laila is wailing so loudly that poor Kirks ears have been ringing for three years now", Lulu went on.

"This isn't about your fool of a husband!" Luke yelled and slammed his fist on the table. "This is about my son who has nightmares because he gets beaten up at school. This is about my wife who gets insulted by school-kids because their parents tell them she's a whore because she had Rory", he roared.

"Well, she did get pregnant at 16", Lulu yelled back, trying to keep the upper hand. But the second she said it she knew she had gone too far. While Lorelai just looked at her with wide eyes and couldn't believe what she was hearing Luke jumped out of his chair.

"We will sue you and Doug's parents! We will get the best attorney in the state and then we will sue you and make you pay for every single bruise and every single insult", Luke hissed.

"Lorelai, I am so sorry", Lulu stuttered, understanding that she had been completely impossible.

"We will inform the town elders that you are treating your pupils unfairly and that you are not able to stand up to your obligatory supervision", Lorelai said and also got up.

"Please sit down again. I am so sorry. You know I like William and would never let anything happen to him", Lulu begged and pointed to the abandoned chairs.

"You know, we did not come here to get insulted. We just wanted a solution and the assurance that our son would be safe at school in the future. Obviously you can't give us that and I think it's better if William won't come back. We will take him out of this school", Lorelai said matter of factly and both Lulu and Luke starred at her wide-eyed.

"Lorelai", Luke said and in a shocked voice.

"Let's just go home", she replied in a small voice and Luke realized that she was obviously really upset and sad.

"Lorelai, Luke, please stay and let us talk about this", Lulu bugged again and was close to tears now.

"I will call you later" Luke replied when he saw that Lorelai wasn't able to reply. He led her out of Lulu's office and past the kids who were running into school now.

"Lorelai! Luke!" Martha Belleville yelled and waved and they both waved back when she ran past them.

They walked outside and didn't walk to the car but chose a small path which was leading to the small lake, the Armbruster's home.

Without saying a word Luke hugged Lorelai to him and held her for a moment until she pulled back slightly to look at him.

"I never thought that me getting pregnant at sixteen would ruin the life of my kids", she said quietly, her voice choked with emotion.

"None of this is your fault", Luke replied.

"I think Lulu would have helped William if she wouldn't think I'm a slut".

"Hey don't talk like that", Luke said and pulled her back in a hug. He stroked over her hair and her back while he spoke quietly into her ear. "Lulu is just as crazy as Kirk. When he thinks he has the upper hand he acts like Tiberius in his worst days. She didn't mean it like that and I am sure she didn't know that William got beaten up, otherwise she would have done something to stop it. She knows that she screwed up, but she didn't want to admit it".

"She shouldn't be headmistress. She is a good teacher, but she sucks when she has power", Lorelai said, sighed and stepped back.

"I knew that when she turned into bridezilla", Luke replied and gave her an encouraging smile.

"You really want to sue them?" Lorelai asked when they walked back to their car.

"Not Lulu, but I am not so sure about the little jerk's parents", he replied and unlocked the car.

"We have to talk to them", Lorelai said and sat down and closed the car-door.

"I know and this will get ugly", Luke nodded and started the engine.

"Oh yes it will", Lorelai agreed and took his hand again and placed a kiss on his knuckles.

"You basically signed William out of school. What are we gonna do now?" Luke asked and looked at her for second before he focused back on the road.

"I have no idea", she sighed and rested her head against the seat.

**TBC**

**Hugs to all sad people out there!**


	14. Zen

Thanks to **Grizzly** for betaing!

* * *

**Chapter 14: Zen**

"Luke we still need to stop by the vet and see how Barney is doing," Lorelai said when they drove past the gazebo.

"Damn, I completely forgot about him," Luke cursed and stopped on the side of the road to turn around and drive to the vet when the cars behind them had passed.

"Maybe we should call the vet first and ask how he is doing. If he's good we should take Will with us when we pick up the pig," Lorelai replied and immediately started to look in her purse for her cell-phone. She dug out a see-through bag with cosmetics and placed it on the headboard, a half empty bottle of coke, which she placed in the storage pocket of the car door. Then cookies on a wrapper, which she placed on the middle console.

"I can't believe that you still have those cookies in there. How old were the twins when you put them there? Six months?" Luke snorted when he saw the cookies.

"And? I never intended to eat them anyway, they're tasteless baby cookies," Lorelai shrugged.

"Because that makes it less unnecessary to carry them around with you," he shook his head and pulled back on the road and continued the ride to their house.

"Oh shush you!", Lorelai laughed, amused by his annoyance and finally found her cell. "Aha!" she exclaimed and flipped through her saved phone-numbers to find the one of the veterinary. When she found it she pressed the phone to her ear and waited for someone to pick up.

Luke listened to her call while he drove them back home and breathed out in relief when he could tell that the his son's pet seemed to be better.

"He is fine. He ate some hay and seems to be stable at least. We can pick him up later," Lorelai confirmed what he already knew and snapped the phone shut.

"That's good. I'll pick up the girls while you're gone," Luke replied.

"Will would have been devastated if Barney had died," Lorelai said and pressed her forehead against Luke's shoulder for a second.

"He's still alive and everything will be just fine," Luke reassured her when he pulled into their driveway. They opened the doors and got out of the car when the front door flew open and William stormed out, shoeless, with a wrinkled shirt and his hair slick with sweat.

"And?" he asked when he reached his parents just as they stepped onto the porch.

"What happened to you?" Luke asked and tugged lightly on William's wet hair.

"Grandpa said I have to learn karate to defend myself and I started training. But what did Mrs. Gleason say?" William asked, talking so fast that Luke barely understood what he was saying.

"You won't be going back to that school Will," Lorelai told him and turned him around by his shoulders so they could go inside.

"Yay, I don't have to go to school anymore," William yelled in victory and raised his arms over his head.

"Not so fast, honey. I said you won't be going back to the school in Stars Hollow, but we will find a new one," Lorelai explained and pulled William's shirt over his head.

"Mommy, what are you doing?" the boy complained and looked at his father so that he would help him, but Luke just chuckled at William's puzzled look.

"I'm cleaning you up, because once you're ready we can go and pick up Barney," she replied and toweled his hair dry with his shirt.

"Really?" he asked doubtfully, his blue eyes wary.

"Really, but not before you wash your face, comb your hair and put on a new shirt," Lorelai told him and the next second he ran off to do as she told him.

Both Luke and Lorelai just shook their heads and finally entered the living-room.

"Hey mom, dad" Lorelai greeted her parents and sat down on the couch. Both Emily and Richard had obviously been waiting for them to get back and now looked expectantly at their daughter and their son in law.

"William won't be going back to school," Luke said with a sigh and plopped down on the couch next to Lorelai.

"What is that supposed to mean 'He won't be going back to school'?" Emily asked while Richard looked too shocked to speak.

"It means that Lulu wasn't cooperating at all and refused to put William in the other class. She also said that before she does anything she has to talk to the jerk who did this to William," Lorelai recalled.

"That is unacceptable! That little idiot has to be kicked out of school! And you should sue his parents," Richard said loudly and basically jumped off the couch and started pacing.

"Actually Luke threatened to sue them. We will get the best attorney we can find and then make them bleed. Their house will be ours, their car will belong to us," Lorelai said and winked at Luke.

"You shouldn't joke about this, Lorelai. This is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Obviously the boy's parents must have told him those horrible things about you, otherwise he wouldn't have attacked William. You can not sue the boy, but you can sue his parents for libel," Emily lectured her.

"I am just saying that before we sue anyone we should probably talk to them first," Lorelai replied.

"What is there to talk about? You were called a whore, William was beaten up and now he even has to change schools. I will call my lawyer and put him on this case immediately," Richard's voice echoed through the living-room.

"Richard, please lower your voice; William does not need to hear any of this. We will talk to the parents and then decide what to do. In the meantime we will look for a new school for William," Luke said, although he was seconds away from losing his temper again.

"What about Lorelai's reputation?" Emily asked.

"Nothing left to ruin," Lorelai replied and rolled her eyes.

"Is this a joke to you Lorelai? Is having people call you a whore fun? You put on one of those obscene shirts and prance through town with a smile, while your kids are beaten up in school. If you dressed properly maybe none of this would have happened. You own pants that have the word "juicy" on the butt and shirts with a penis in rhinestones. How many times have I told you that…" Emily yelled but was interrupted by Luke.

"Enough! This is not about Lorelai's clothes or one of your old disagreements. I think it would be better if you left now and called us when you have calmed down so we can talk about finding a new school for William. I don't know anything about the private schools around here and neither does Lorelai, so we would appreciate your help. But now: Leave!"

Without another word Emily and Richard turned around and left the house. Once they heard the door close Luke turned to Lorelai. "How many years until they'll forgive me for that?" he asked.

"Probably never," Lorelai nodded and gave him a soft kiss.

"Good to know at least," Luke whispered against her lips and kissed her again.

"Mommy, I am ready, let's go!" William screamed the next second as he ran down the stairs. Luke and Lorelai both sighed and broke the kiss.

"Come on! Hurry!" William said , bouncing up and down when Lorelai didn't get off the couch immediately.

"Hold your horses, mister. Your old mother isn't that fast," she replied and stood up.

"You're fast when there's ice-cream involved," William grumbled.

"Did you just say "involved"?" Lorelai asked him and raised her eyebrows. When William only gave her a duh-look she turned to Luke and said "He just said "involved". We're getting old."

"As long as we still get what he is talking about," Luke shrugged and stretched his legs. "I'm gonna change and go to the diner. I will pick up the girls later and meet you for lunch?" he asked.

"Sounds good, see you later," Lorelai replied and gave Luke another peck.

"Mommy!" William urged and pushed her to the door by her rear-end.

"Luke! Another guy has got his hands on my butt! You'd better hurry before my reputation is completely ruined," she joked, then turned around and picked a squealing William up the next second kissing his cheek noisily. Luke only laughed and waved before he climbed the stairs.

* * *

Lorelai didn't carry William very far because at the age of six, he was already too heavy. For a while William kept babbling about his karate lessons which he had taken by himself that day and skipped happily along,holding Lorelai's hand. The closer they came to the veterinary surgery though the quieter he was.

"Meeko was angry at me today," he said quietly when they reached the town square.

"Aw, really?" Lorelai replied and gave his hand a comforting squeeze.

"Yeah, he doesn't like me anymore because I hurt his brother," William explained.

"No one likes it when someone hurts a member of the family. Make sure you give them some extra cucumber in the evening as an apology," Lorelai proposed.

"I don't think we have a cucumber at home," William shook his head sadly.

"We will buy one on our way back home, ok?"

"Ok," he nodded and rubbed his nose and his forehead against her arm. Lorelai decided that it wasn't that far anymore and picked him up to carry him the rest of the way. William obviously was okay with that because he buried his face in the crook of her neck and closed his eyes.

"Mommy, what if the kids at the new school also say mean things about you?" William mumbled into her neck.

"Then you come home and tell me and Daddy and we will take care of it," Lorelai told him, already knowing where this was going.

"But what if it is really mean and I don't want to tell you?"

"Then tell your father."

"And if I don't want to tell daddy?" William lifted his head and looked at her, obviously looking for reassurance and a guarantee that something like this would never happen again. Lorelai stopped and put him down, before she crouched down in front of him so she was at eye level.

"William, look: If something like this happens again then you have to tell us. We're your parents and no matter what stupid things they say about us we know that it's not your fault and we will take care of it. We take of you, Will, not the other way round. If you have a problem you have to tell us, no matter what happens. If you don't talk about things it will backfire and everything will be worse than when you talk about it. Believe me your daddy and I made that mistake several times and it never did any good. So if someone beats you up or insults you, you will tell us and we will take care of it. I'm really sorry that we weren't able to get you into the other class, but maybe it's better if you change schools. You can make new friends and keep your old friends from the soccer team," Lorelai told him, while she kept his hands in her own.

"You also said that when I got into the other class and then they beat me up," William said doubtfully.

"It will work out, you'll see. Rory also changed schools and it wasn't easy at first, but then she made new friends and so will you," she said and got up. "And now we'd better get Barney before Meeko gets even angrier and we have to buy all of the cucumbers at Doose's," she joked to lighten the mood.

"He could never eat all of the cucumbers at Doose's! He would explode, mommy," William giggled.

"Or he might blow up like the coyote," she laughed with him.

"Yes, and then we would have to tie him to the bed, because otherwise he would fly away," William laughed.

"Or he could be so heavy we would have to roll him in and out of his cage."

"I could play soccer with him," William agreed and started to skip excitedly beside her again.

* * *

That evening, after Barney was safely back in his cage, the guinea pigs had been fed a whole cucumber and William and his sisters were finally asleep, Luke and Lorelai were relaxing in front of the TV when the phone rang.

Luke muttered while he went over to the sideboard to pick up the phone, because it was already half past ten and everybody knew not to call them that late because the kids were asleep. So it was either something important or someone dumb and he wasn't in the mood for either.

"Danes," he barked when he picked it up.

"Luke, I really don't want to talk to you again today, but I have no choice. I made some calls when we got home and all of the private schools told me they would accept William. However he will have to join as soon as possible and they demand a placement test as well as an intelligence test. We will meet tomorrow at the Hartford school for boys at nine. Be on time for once," Emily said and hung up before he could say a single word. Slowly he turned his head and stared in disbelief at the phone in his hands.

"Who was it?" Lorelai asked.

"The woman who signed our son up for an IQ test tomorrow. And don't say anything, obviously we need to do this in order to get Will into one of those snob schools. Just take it with Zen," he replied and sat back down on the couch and let out a long and exhausted sigh.

"Zen, I got it," Lorelai replied and snuggled up to him for some comfort.

**TBC**


	15. Dialy dinner in the mansion

**Sorry for the lack of updates, but life is crazy lately.**

**Thanks to Grizzly for betaing.**

**Let me just say that I know that this chapter is pretty unrealistic, but I couldn't pick on a kid and I didn't want William to be "special" again, so don't slap me because of it.**

* * *

**Chapter 15: Daily dinner in the mansion**

"You can already read right William?" the psychologist asked William who was sitting in a chair beside his father. Doctor Lemsine was sitting behind a huge desk that was covered with papers, toys and pens. There were four desks in the room, grouped in pairs and another table with four chairs stood by the windows. In front of a wall with shelves there was an expensive looking leather couch and in front of the windows all kinds of toys were spread out on a large play carpet.

Emily, who had insisted on coming, was sitting with Sarah and a woman at the table, Lorelai was with Laila at the other desk and finally Luke, William and the only male psychologist had sat down at the second desk.

All tests took place at the same time and in different orders, so the kids weren't able to cheat or help each other. Laila had been shy at first and had refused to answer any questions, but Lorelai had been able to help her and now she was the most enthusiastic of the three.

Her brother William though was sitting on his chair, his arms crossed in front of his chest and he wore a slightly unnerved expression.

"Yes"

"Ok, I'm going to give you a paper with some questions now. Just make a cross by the correct answer.

"Like a quiz?"

"Yes, like a quiz."

"Okay," the boy shrugged.

"If you don't understand the question just leave it, ok?"

"Mmh," William nodded and the psychologist handed him a paper with some questions on it. William read it carefully with raised eyebrows, then relaxed and answered one question after another. Luke leaned over and peeked at the questions.

He wondered for a second how a six year old boy should know the answer to any of these questions, but then he saw that William was answering the first question correctly. He wrinkled his forehead in confusion and turned to Lorelai who was still sitting at the other table where Laila was currently putting some weird shaped building bricks in a box which had differently shaped openings.

After a while William handed the paper back to the man behind the desk and Luke focused back on his son.

"So William, I will ask you some really silly questions now, because I was told that you could maybe help me. I don't know the answers and I would be happy if you could tell me."

"Could you call me Will please? No one says William," the boy complained.

"I do," Luke disagreed.

"Only when you're mad," William told his father and Luke had to laugh and ruffled William's hair.

"So, Will, can you help me?" the psychologist asked.

"Sure," William replied nonchalantly.

"Ok, can you tell me what color blood is?" he asked his first question.

"Red, duh! Haven't you ever cut yourself?" William asked and looked at the man like he was crazy.

"Of course I have," the psychologist replied.

"Then you saw the blood and you know that it's red! Or can't you tell the colors apart?" William questioned further and the doctor had to laugh.

"I can William, but I have to make sure you know what blood looks like," he smiled.

"SO you know the answers and you just want to know if I know," William concluded.

"You got me there," the man smiled.

"You could have just said so. And I know what blood looks like," William said confidently and then hesitated for a second before he continued more quietly, "There was a lot of blood on their clothes when daddy and Sara got hurt." He looked down and focused on his dangling legs. Luke could see that his chin was quivering and he lifted William out of his chair and pulled him onto his lap.

"It's ok Will. We're fine," he whispered in his son's ear and kissed his cheek quietly. He didn't want Lorelai or the twins to witness this, because the accident and everything connected to it was still a sore point and he knew their moods would change immediately if they heard a word about the accident.

William rubbed his face against his father's shirt for a second, took a deep breath and then looked up again and faced the psychologist.

"Next question?" he asked and got comfortable on his father's lap and leaned back against his chest.

"Ok, can you tell me which of the following is the coldest: ice, water, rain or glass?"

"Ice is really cold, but when you play soccer outside and it's raining that can be really cold as well," William mused.

"Yes, you're absolutely right. You play soccer?"

"Yes, I'm on a soccer team," William nodded.

"That's good. Ok, next question. Which is most like a car: a train, a truck, a boat or a plane?"

"That's a stupid question! A truck, of course," William replied and shook his head slightly.

"And which is most likely purple: a crayon, paint, an orange or people?"

"Huh?" Luke and William made at the same time.

"You don't know?"

"Well, an orange is orange, that's for sure and people are not purple either, except maybe their nails when the paint them like mommy sometimes does. But if a crayon is purple, then it's purple and if you buy purple paint then it's purple as well," William explained his confusion.

"Then why don't we give you another question, huh?"

"Ok"

"Do you know how many legs a cat has?"

"Four, just like my guinea pigs. But Barney's one leg is broken so he can only use three at the moment."

"Poor guy."

"Yeah," William sighed.

"And can you tell me which you have the most of: ears, eyes, fingers or legs?"

"Fingers, I have ten fingers," William replied and wiggled his fingers in front of the psychologist's face to prove it.

"And if you have seven cents and lose 3, how many do you have left?"

"Four, but you can't buy anything with four cents, not even gum at Doose's".

"That's probably right. Can you tell me how many things are in a dozen?"

"12," William answered without thinking about it and Luke made a surprised face.

"How do you know that?" he asked William.

"When you make scrambled eggs in the diner during breakfast rush you always use twelve eggs and sometimes you tell Cesar to bring you a dozen eggs and then he gets you twelve," William explained.

"Man, you are observant," Luke said and leaned back in the chair again and tried to wrap his head around the fact that his son seemed to pick up more things than he had thought and that maybe they needed to be more careful about what they said around the kids than they already were.

"When your mother is sick she goes to …?" the doctors started and William interrupted him.

"To daddy and whines about how sick she is," William giggled.

"Hey, I heard that!" Lorelai said from the other side of the room and stuck out her tongue at William, who only laughed.

"And when your daddy can't help her?"

"Daddy can always help her. He goes to the pharmacy and picks up some medicine," William insisted.

"I know what you are getting at. Just rephrase the question," Luke chuckled.

"Ok, so if you are sick then your parents take you to…"

"Dr Smith," William replied.

"And if your mother makes a salad, she buys," the doctor was interrupted by William's laughter.

"Mommy doesn't make salad, she doesn't even eat salad," he shook with laughter. "Mommy, making salad," he gasped out.

"Ok, then if your daddy makes a salad he buys…" the doctor started again with a smile and was interrupted once again by William.

"Lettuce, tomatoes, olives, cucumber and feta cheese. Mix it with oil and vinegar, salt and pepper and you have a Greek salad," William replied and smiled proudly.

"Well done little chef," Luke said and nudged him playfully with his shoulder.

"I'm no rat," William protested and Luke looked confused and didn't have the slightest idea what his son was talking about.

"Ratatouille, the movie the kids and I watched last night Luke," Lorelai told him.

"Stop eavesdropping," Luke grumbled in reply and gave her a pointed look.

"Just helping," she shrugged and focused back on the questions Laila was being asked.

The kids all had to answer questions in math, vocabulary and general knowledge. Then they had to link dots on a paper and name the objectsin pictures.

By the end of the hour William was grumpy, Sara annoyed and only Laila seemed to be having fun answering the questions and never got tired of it.

"Can you give us half an hour to discuss the test results?" Doctor Lemsine asked when they were done with the tests.

"Sure, we will go for a walk with the kids," Luke nodded.

"There's a playground out in the yard. Just walk down the corridor, walk out the building and turn left then you'll see it," the woman who had done the tests with Sara added.

"Oh thanks, I guess that's where we'll be waiting," Lorelai replied and Emily nodded in agreement before they left the room.

* * *

While the kids were playing in the playground, the adults sat down on a nearby bench and silently watched them play. By the small squeezes Luke gave her hand from time to time Lorelai could tell that he was contemplating the situation, just like she was.

She had been surprised and impressed by the things Laila knew and by how easy it had been for her to answer the questions and solve the riddles. Sometimes she had thought it was impossible for any kid to solve them, but then her daughter had shown her that she was wrong.

From the snippets she had heard, she knew that the test with William had been similar and she was sure that Luke felt just as overwhelmed.

Last night she had asked herself what would happen if the kids were unusually dumb. Not that she actually believed it, but she had thought about it. For her it would be fine if they were completely normal. They were living a normal live and of course she wanted her kids to have good grades, but back when William was born she had decided that she would be ok with whatever he did. If he was more into sports and less into school and reading, she was fine with it. Not all of her kids needed to go to College, or even a community college. If they were happy running a diner like Luke, selling jewelry like Liz or become a maid, like she had been, she would accept it.

Rory had been special. She had been bookish and for her, school had been fun. However so far it didn't look like it would be the same with William. He was happier when he could play soccer. He and Sara were really active kids and at times it was hard to keep up with them.

What would they do if one of their kids was really highly intelligent? Would they be able to keep up with that? Sure, Rory had been good at school, but Lorelai had never considered that she was a genius. Rory had to study long and hard to get good results, so the thought that Rory should take an intelligence test had never crossed her mind.

What would it mean for them if one of their kids had an above average IQ? She had looked it up on google the night before and she had read many reports about frustrated kids that became violent or had killed themselves because they had been so unhappy. School had never challenged them and out of boredom they had started to make trouble, or they had retreated and barely had any friends. Either way those kids had been unhappy and she couldn't bear the thought that her kids would be unhappy.

There were two things that she and Luke wished for them: that they were healthy and happy, nothing more. That was all they wanted. So she really hoped for completely average results in those tests.

"Time's up," Luke said and she snapped out of her daze. She looked over to the swing where the kids were playing and Luke, who had stood up off the bench, followed her look.

"Emily, could you stay here and watch them? I don't want them in the room when we get the results and we don't know how long it will take," Luke said and Lorelai smiled gratefully up at him.

"Of course. If you are not back in half an hour I will drive back to Stars Hollow with them," she replied, and her facial expression left no doubt that she wanted to come with them and not stay out there and watch the kids.

"You've got seats in your car, so it's fine by me," Luke nodded.

"See you later mom," Lorelai said and walked with Luke back into the building.

"Please, sit down," Doctor Lemsin said and pointed to the chairs in front of his desk. Beside him the two women who had done the tests with the twins were sitting. Luke and Lorelai took their seats and looked expectantly and a little fearfully at the doctor.

"First let me say that all of your kids did very well in those tests. I understood that you were mainly here because of William and his problems at school, so I will start with him. It is hard to tell you the exact IQ of a child that age, but William's IQ is approximately between 140 and 145," the doctor said with a smile.

"And that means?" Luke asked.

"William is highly gifted. The normal IQ is between 100 and 130. Anything over 130 is highly gifted," Lorelai answered and didn't look as thrilled as the psychologist might have expected.

"He already reads fluently, he has an incredible vocabulary and he solves mathematic riddles without any problems. It's a given that he is bored at school. He is in the first grade now, according to his age. But according to his skills he could easily compete with third graders."

"Oh my," Luke muttered and glanced at Lorelai who hung her head.

"My advice is that you either send him to a school for highly gifted kids or let him skip at least one class, two would be better ."

"But what about his friends? If he skips a class it will be hard for him to find friends," Luke replied with a frown.

"There are kids who have problems, there are kids who don't. It depends on the nature of the kids as well as on the school and how they deal with the challenge that a highly gifted kid brings with him. Either way I advise you against to sending William to a normal public school, especially not in first grade," the psychologist insisted.

"Ok, what about the twins?" Lorelai asked impatiently. She could feel it, William's result was only the tip of the iceberg.

"Sara has about the same IQ as her brother, maybe a bit lower. While William should jump a class Sara should definitely go to school as soon as possible, otherwise you will face the same problems with her as you have with William. She will be bored during class and because she's a very active little girl she might get more than one detention when she disturbs the class."

"But the school year has already started. She would be over four months behind," Lorelai said.

"That won't be a problem for your daughter. She can read, she can write, she will do fine," one of the women said.

"We will think about it," Luke nodded.

"However while Sara and William can just skip a class and they will be fine, that won't be the case with your daughter Laila," the psychologist continued and looked worried. Lorelai flinched.

"Why what's wrong with her?" Luke asked with a hint of panic in his voice and looked at Lorelai. Her look told him that she knew something like this would happen.

"We estimate Laila's IQ at 150, probably even higher. She outdid William and Sara in the tests. She solved whatever task we gave her, especially language wise."

"She has too much contact with Rory," Luke muttered.

"I'm sorry?" doctor Lensin asked.

"Her older sister Rory. She's a journalist and knows her way with words," Luke explained louder.

"How high is her IQ?" the psychologist asked.

"No idea, she was never tested," Lorelai replied.

"What about her school career?"

"She always had good grades, reads a lot, studied hard for her tests and graduated from Yale a few years ago," Lorelai summarized her daughter's school life.

"That's not surprising. You know intelligence is partially bequeathed, partially a result of infantile advancement. Do you know your IQ?"

"No idea," Luke replied.

"145," Lorelai said and closed her eyes.

"What?" Luke exclaimed and looked at her.

"I was tested when I changed schools. I never had problems at school, but I didn't get any special treatment. Sure, my parents were proud, but that vanished when I got pregnant at 16 and had Rory," she explained.

"You went to College?"

"I left home and worked as a maid, worked my way up into management, took business classes and graduated from business school at age 33. Opened my own hotel a few years later, had three more kids," Lorelai summarized.

"One can't do that if one isn't bright, Mrs. Danes," the psychologist explained.

"Looks like I'm the dumb one in the family," Luke muttered.

"I don't think so! Who got all those scholarships, you or me? Maybe you should do a test yourself," Lorelai told him.

"No, I'm fine, I really don't want to know," he said, reached over with one hand and gave Lorelai's knee a squeeze.

"So what are we gonna do with Laila?" Lorelai asked the psychologist and placed her hand over Luke's on her knee.

"She needs special training, special tasks and she needs to go to school as soon as possible. Second grade at least."

"But then she and Sara won't be in the same class anymore. I don't think that's good," Luke said and rubbed his chin with his free hand.

"If you let them continue together it will cause problems sooner or later. Now they might tease each other a bit, have different friends, but in the end it will be for the best," the woman who had done the tests with Laila said. "It wouldn't be fair to Laila to keep her in kindergarten just because her sister still is."

"We already talked to the headmaster of the private elementary school in Hartford and he is willing to take all three immediately. They have experience with highly gifted children and that way your kids could at least all go to the same school. Maybe that will help you with your decision," Doctor Lensin said.

"We will think about it and let you know. Thank you for your time," Lorelai said and got up. They shook hands and left the room. When the Luke closed the door behind him, Lorelai turned around to face her husband.

"God," she said and pressed her forehead against his cloth covered chest.

"You should have told me about your IQ. I would have liked to know that I was marrying a genius," Luke tried to joke and pressed his lips to her hair.

"How are we going to pay for this school? One kid would have been hard, but three?" Lorelai ignored his attempt to joke and continued in panic mode.

"I guess your parents will be more than happy to help us out," Luke replied and hugged her to him.

"My mother will have a field day. Dinner at the Gilmore mansion, every night for the rest of our life, yippee," she snorted and buried her face in Luke's neck.

"Come on, whiz, let's go home," Luke smiled weakly and led her out of the school building.

**TBC**


End file.
